Kirsten Axelsen

Kirsten Axelsen is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where she focuses on domestic and international pharmaceutical drug policy. In addition to her AEI work, Ms. Axelsen is a consultant to biopharmaceutical and other companies.

Before joining AEI, Ms. Axelsen worked for Pfizer for almost 20 years. As vice president for strategy and new business assessment in Pfizer’s Innovative Health and Essential Health units, her work included the oversight of business-development evaluations in the fields of rare disease, oncology, inflammation, immunology, and primary care. She was also responsible for developing a health strategy for emerging markets and renewing a 10-year strategic plan for China. Earlier, through her US work with the Pfizer Global Policy team, Ms. Axelsen dealt with the Affordable Care Act and Medicare Part D. Internationally, she worked on health technology assessment programs in the EU and quality-consistency evaluation of pharmaceutical drugs in China.

Ms. Axelsen has been widely published in scholarly journals, including the American Journal of Managed Care, PharmacoEconomics, and Value in Health. She has also participated in a variety of conferences and panels discussions, including The Atlantic’s 2014 “Future of Medicine: A Conversation on Cost and Value.”

Ms. Axelsen holds a B.A. from the University of Puget Sound and a M.S. in economics from the University of Texas at Austin. She also attended Columbia University’s School of Public Health and Harvard Business School’s Executive Education programs.