Rising Stars of the Profession 2021: Karla Feghali

Karla's unique background at the intersection of technology and healthcare, her forward-thinking leadership, entrepreneurial instincts and mentorship of her team are key driving factors in how she is redefining the consulting profession.

Prior to entering consulting, Karla developed vaccines and diagnostic tests to detect malaria that the US military uses today. Karla joined Deloitte when the concept of consulting software products was in its infancy. She was a key leader involved in the acquisition and integration of Recombinant Data which later evolved into ConvergeHEALTH, Deloitte's Life Science & Health Care product and platforms business. ConvergeHEALTH products are currently globally deployed in 23 countries, >300M unique patients, with 65 supported therapies. Karla's unique combination of hard science, strategy and technology is delivering high value to her clients.

In addition to helping build the ConvergeHEALTH business, Karla completed an MBA from the executive program at the Kellogg School of Management – Northwestern University and will be graduating this July.

Asked as to the biggest factors in her success to date, Karla notes, "Passion, purpose and community have been the biggest factors in my success. I am passionate about driving innovation in life sciences and healthcare by helping bring our vision for the future of health to reality. During my senior year of college, there was a tragic, unexpectedly passing of a loved one, and to help cope with this loss, I went on a student trip to Ghana to work with the needy and provide medical aid. I spent months preparing for the trip—receiving education and training. The malaria-infected children I worked with during this medical mission motivated my decision to work in healthcare. With purpose, I was determined to push through the pain of my loss and immediately after graduation, I started my career as a research associate on the Malaria vaccine at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research."

"I believe my personal enthusiasm, unwavering drive, and inclusive nature help create a sense of belonging, passion and engagement among my teams. My goal is to create community by finding ways for us to be extremely productive and deliver value to our clients while enjoying ourselves. The individuals I work with have diverse backgrounds and skillsets. As a first-generation American, I have found that my leadership style embraces this diversity and gives each team member a platform and the opportunity to be authentic and share their unique ideas. This allows my teams to be successful and bring out the best of Deloitte—a critical key to my success."

Karla enjoys her career, adding, "I am a motivated leader in the life sciences sector and my passion is to develop new ways of leveraging technology to improve patient lives. I began my career at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research developing Malaria vaccines. In that role, I co-founded a new division—Molecular Diagnostics and developed the first 510k FDA cleared qPCR test for Malaria. While my work was impactful, I realized the laboratory was not enough to drive the change I wanted to see in healthcare. In consulting I can make an even bigger impact—working with leading organizations to help shape the future of health by transforming how medicines are developed and brought to market ultimately improving patients' lives."

"At Deloitte, I have worked to bridge the gap between the promise of technology—whether using machine learning to identify novel drug targets or the elastic power of cloud computing and automation to free up data scientists' time, allowing them time away from routine tasks and enabling higher-value, complex problem-solving activities. As one of the founding members of an innovative product business called ConvergeHEALTH, we have helped companies undergo digital transformation to better utilize data and analytics dramatically improving their understanding of diseases, treatments, healthcare delivery and more."

"My proudest achievement has been building my career to do exactly what I intended—improve patient lives. This includes advancing Malaria vaccines and developing diagnostic tests that can be administered and analyzed off the back of a truck in sub-Sahara Africa, building out leading-edge technology platforms that have enabled numerous drug approvals, and being at the forefront of innovation with software solutions for decentralized clinical trials to give patients access to exploratory therapies that may otherwise not be viable. Being in consulting, I constantly get to do this with clients and help transform not just one organization, but rather many and drive impact in the industry."

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

"Ever since I can remember, my dad always told my siblings and me to be hungry and to be passionate. Having immigrated from Lebanon during the war, he had many odds against him however, his hunger to achieve and his passion for his work led him to the successes he's accomplished. I have built my career on this advice and it has served me well. I am passionate about the work I do and I am always hungry—striving for ways to improve what we do, how it is done and how I can become a better leader."