Paul Slater

Co-Founder, Clinical Research Innovation Hub, Microsoft Corporation

The Clinical Research Innovation Hub (CRIH) is the first industry focused internal startup in Microsoft. Innovation hubs are engines that allow Microsoft to focus on pressing industry problems by combining the speed, agility and autonomy of a startup with resources available to a large enterprise. CRIH analyzes problems deeply through interviews and experiments, then rapidly builds solutions alongside Microsoft customers and partners.

Paul is responsible for the strategy of the innovation hub, for establishing a target technology architecture for clinical research, and for building partnerships within and outside of Microsoft that realize the transformation vision. Microsoft and its partners are building solutions that will allow end-to-end digitization of the study, maximize the value of research data and ensure patient needs are met as research modernizes.

Paul has been at Microsoft for 8 years. Prior to his current role he worked as Worldwide Director of Industry Strategy for Life Sciences, and as a Director of Enterprise Architecture, focused on developing incubation solutions in the life sciences industry and multiple other industries, including energy production, discrete manufacturing, financial services and education.

Before joining Microsoft, Paul was a Senior Enterprise Architect at Weyerhaeuser – a global forest products company. He was responsible for the overall technology architecture of the organization, developed Weyerhaeuser’s virtualization, cloud and security strategies, and defined a target architecture for shared services across multiple lines of business.

He is the author or co-author of multiple papers and books on both health and technology issues. He has delivered keynote addresses at multiple conferences in the United States and Europe, including CDISC Interchange, BME Global Pharma Supply Chain Congress, Parexel Horizons, and the Society for Clinical Data Management. He holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Mathematics from King’s College. London.