Evans D. Pope III
Health Economist · Clinical
“The layer that determines whether innovation translates into access.”
Bio
Evans Pope is a Venture Fellow at Suncoast Ventures Fund II, where he supports HEOR, clinical development, and market-access diligence across diagnostics and therapeutics investments. He bridges the gap between clinical evidence, regulatory pathways, and the financial models that determine whether an innovation actually reaches the patients who need it.
Evans is a PharmD/MS HCDA candidate at the USC Mann School of Pharmacy with specialized HEOR training at the USC Stevens Center for Innovation. He has published four peer-reviewed papers spanning neurology and oncology and brings a working knowledge of health technology assessment that few fellows at his career stage possess.
Previously, he conducted clinical-trials research at Vanderbilt, the Mayo Clinic, and the Cleveland Clinic, and worked on external innovation partnering at Johnson & Johnson — focused on licensing, early-stage evaluation, and HTA. He holds an MS from Lipscomb University and a BS from the University of Tennessee.
Backstory
My trajectory sits at the intersection of clinical exposure, research, and economic modeling — not by design at first, but as a convergence of questions that kept pointing the same direction. Working in clinical trials at institutions like the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic gave me direct visibility into how therapies are developed and tested — and exposed how much depends on evidence and value long after the science works.
That led me into health economics and outcomes research, where I worked on modeling, evidence generation, and value communication at Exact Sciences and through academic work, and into external innovation and licensing at J&J.
Those threads converge at Suncoast. My focus is the layer that determines whether innovation translates into access: the intersection of clinical evidence, economic validation, and market access.
What I'm looking for
Diagnostics and therapeutics where the evidence-and-access story is as strong as the science — HEOR, budget impact, and market access designed early.
Founders who understand that clinical validity is necessary but not sufficient for access.
Focus