The Future of Evidence Synthesis Requires Better Judgement
Synthessa Consulting is a specialist, senior-led consultancy helping pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies navigate complex evidence challenges through scientifically rigorous and clinically relevant evidence strategies.
Strategic Judgment
Automation and AI are transforming evidence generation. Success increasingly depends on knowing what evidence to generate, how to generate it, and how to use it to support decision-making.
Senior Expertise
Clients work directly with Maria Rizzo, bringing more than 18 years of experience across evidence synthesis and HTA evidence development. When additional expertise is required, Synthessa draws upon a trusted network of specialist partners.
Dedicated Partnership
Synthessa works as an extension of client teams, combining senior expertise with responsive, flexible support tailored to the needs of each programme.
About Synthessa
“I founded Synthessa because I believe clients should have direct access to the expertise they are hiring. My focus is on applying experience, judgment, and strategic thinking to help clients make better evidence-based decisions, while fostering collaborative partnerships built around shared objectives.”
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Maria Rizzo is an evidence synthesis and HTA specialist with more than 18 years of experience supporting pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with evidence generation, comparative effectiveness assessment, and HTA evidence development.
Having started her career developing systematic literature reviews for NICE clinical guidelines, Maria has extensive experience designing evidence strategies and delivering systematic reviews and integrated evidence packages. She has also led comparative effectiveness programmes involving network meta-analyses and indirect treatment comparisons, ensuring methodological approaches remain aligned with feasibility assessments, clinical relevance, and client objectives.
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Maria has held senior leadership positions across global consulting organizations including Evidera (Thermo Fisher Scientific), Cencora, Cytel, and GIPAM. This includes serving as Vice President within Cytel's global HEOR business and as Managing Partner of GIPAM.
Throughout her career, she has built and led evidence synthesis teams, managed global HTA programmes, and supported the integration of innovative technologies into evidence generation workflows while maintaining scientific and methodological rigour.
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Maria has supported evidence programmes designed to inform HTA decision-making across major reimbursement markets.
Her experience includes evidence generation supporting NICE, the EU JCA, and other global HTA requirements. She has worked across oncology, haematology, immunology, and rare diseases, designing evidence strategies where comparative effectiveness assessments, including indirect treatment comparisons, and real-world evidence play an important role in supporting HTA and reimbursement decision-making.
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Maria has overseen the development and implementation of AI-enabled evidence synthesis technologies within both consultancy organisations and pharmaceutical companies.
Her experience spans methodology, operations, and technology innovation, providing clients and developers with practical insight into how automation can be effectively integrated into evidence generation workflows while maintaining the scientific rigour, transparency, and reproducibility required for HEOR and HTA decision-making.
This combination of scientific and technology expertise enables Maria to support both evidence generation programmes and AI-enabled workflow initiatives, while working flexibly within client-preferred platforms, processes, and operating models.
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