Tala Fakhouri, PhD, MPH, Chief AI & Regulatory Strategy Officer at Parexel, has been named to the inaugural AI Health 25 by Doceree, an honor recognizing 25 leaders across healthcare marketing, pharmaceuticals, and medical technology whose vision, influence, and innovation are helping define the future of AI in healthcare. Doceree’s editorial team framed the recognition around impact rather than technology itself: “We’re not awarding AI. We’re naming the people who are using it to change how medicine gets made, marketed, and delivered.”
About Tala Fakhouri
Fakhouri leads AI and regulatory strategy at Parexel, where she has helped guide the company’s approach to responsible AI adoption in clinical development, work that colleagues credit with helping accelerate innovation while keeping human expertise, transparency, and patient impact at the center of every advancement. She joined Parexel from the FDA, where she most recently served as Associate Director for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in the Office of Medical Policy at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), leading a team focused on advancing medical policy related to the use of AI in drug development. Her accomplishments there included spearheading the first draft CDER AI guidance and establishing the CDER AI Council.
Before the FDA, Fakhouri served as Senior Health Scientist and Chief Statistician for the CDC‘s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), addressing methodological challenges including selection bias and data quality. Earlier in her career, she was an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at the CDC, deputy lead for health surveys at ICF Macro, and a contributor to the Cancer Moonshot initiative. Her leadership in statistical methodology earned her selection to the Federal Committee for Statistical Methodology in 2023, and she has authored more than 30 government reports, peer-reviewed publications, and book chapters.
Fakhouri holds a PhD in Oncological Sciences from the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, a Master of Public Health in Epidemiologic and Biostatistical Methods from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular biology and genetics at Harvard University. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology from Jordan University of Science and Technology.
About Parexel
Parexel is a global clinical research organization headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, employing more than 22,000 professionals across multiple countries. The company provides end-to-end clinical development services spanning Phase I through Phase IV trials, including portfolio optimization, regulatory strategy, integrated clinical development, and market access planning, with specialized expertise across oncology, neuroscience, immunology, infectious disease, hematology, and cell and gene therapies. Parexel has a 40-year track record in clinical research and recently earned the 2025 Scrip Award for Best Contract Research Organization – Full-Service Provider.
