Ethan Fricklas, MSE, leads the DCRI’s digital health, artificial intelligence, and analytics portfolios as Director of Digital Health, leveraging technology, design, and product development strategies to bring innovative solutions to clinical research. Guided by the belief that a diversity of ideas is essential to achieving the best outcomes, he brings a human-centered approach to problem-solving to building teams and tackling some of healthcare's most significant challenges.

Fricklas joined the DCRI in 2022 and brings nearly two decades of experience designing and developing digital health products across the medical device, imaging, payer, and pharmaceutical industries. Prior to joining the DCRI, he served as Associate Director of Product Management for Behavioral Health at Optum, where he led the creation of new behavioral health products and services grounded in extensive design research and business analysis. Fricklas also developed products in Optum’s medical benefit management business, including the design of analytic and reporting tools. Before Optum, he served as a Senior Human Factors Engineer at Medtronic, leading user experience research in one of the company's largest pain therapy areas, including a successful summative usability study that supported regulatory submission and approval of a new clinician programmer device. He also held user experience leadership roles at Lenovo and served as a Program Manager in Pfizer's BioDevices R&D group, focused on developing new devices for improving animal health.

Fricklas holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering from Duke University and a Master of Science in Engineering in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan.