Patient Centricity in Medicine Development, with the Chief Transformation Officer at FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health

Dr Michelle Tarver, MD, PhD, is an ophthalmologist and epidemiologist, serving as the Deputy Center Director for Transformation. In this role, Dr Tarver facilitates the development, implementation, and direction of CDRH’s transformative projects and initiatives. Under her leadership, CDRH is advancing efforts to include underserved and underrepresented populations in the evaluation of medical devices, including people across diverse age, sex, gender, racial and ethnic backgrounds; those living with rare diseases and physical limitations; and those living in rural areas. Her CDRH career has included many leadership roles, most recently as the Deputy Director of the Office of Strategic Partnerships and Technology Innovation and the Program Director of Patient Science and Engagement. Dr Tarver received a BS in Biochemistry from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA and completed the MD/PhD program at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health. Following her internal medicine internship, she completed a residency in ophthalmology with fellowship training in ocular inflammation (uveitis) both at the Wilmer Eye Institute (Johns Hopkins). Board-certified in ophthalmology with an epidemiology doctorate, she has worked on laboratory-based and epidemiological studies, clinical trials, registries, developing patient-reported outcome measures as well as surveys to capture patient preferences. As a dedicated clinician, she continues to care for patients living with uveitis.