PicnicHealth Taps 'Architect of Scale' Luna Federici as New President

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – February 26, 2026 – Health technology firm PicnicHealth has promoted Luna Federici to the role of president, a strategic move signaling the company's intent to aggressively scale its AI-driven, patient-centered research platform. Federici, who previously served as chief operating officer for five years, will now spearhead the company's overall operating strategy and business management.

The promotion places a proven leader at the helm as PicnicHealth deepens its focus on non-interventional studies, a rapidly growing sector of clinical research. Federici's new mandate is to sharpen the company's strategic direction and expand its leadership in generating real-world evidence for the life sciences industry.

An Architect of Transformation

During her five-year tenure as COO, Federici was widely regarded as a key architect of PicnicHealth's significant transformation. She is credited with scaling the company's complex operations and strengthening its execution, successfully positioning it as a market leader. Her leadership was instrumental in refining the company's direct-to-patient model, which has attracted partnerships with 15 of the top 20 largest life sciences companies and empowered tens of thousands of patients.

"Luna has been a driving force behind PicnicHealth's evolution into a trusted partner for life sciences companies seeking an innovative approach to non-interventional research," said Noga Leviner, co-founder and chief executive officer of PicnicHealth, in a statement. "Her promotion reflects both her impact on the business and our confidence in her ability to lead PicnicHealth into its next phase of growth with operational excellence."

Federici's track record extends beyond PicnicHealth, with a strong background in scaling businesses and financial strategy at companies like SoFi, where she was Head of Student Lending, and LendingClub, where she served as Vice President of Funding Strategy. This experience in navigating high-growth environments is seen as critical for her new role.

Capitalizing on a Booming Market

Federici’s promotion comes as the market for non-interventional research, particularly real-world evidence (RWE), is experiencing explosive growth. The global RWE market, valued at approximately $1.5 billion in 2022, is projected by some analysts to surge past $6 billion by 2030. This expansion is fueled by a confluence of factors, including increasing demand from regulators and payers for data on long-term drug efficacy and safety, the push towards value-based care, and the need for more efficient drug development pipelines.

PicnicHealth operates at the intersection of these trends. The company leverages a unique patient-mediated model, directly obtaining consent from individuals to collect, digitize, and unify their complete medical histories from all their care providers. This method stands in contrast to approaches used by competitors like Flatiron Health, which primarily extracts data from electronic health records within specific clinical networks. By going directly to the patient, PicnicHealth aims to create more comprehensive, longitudinal health records that capture the full patient journey, including specialist visits often missed by site-based data collection.

This patient-centric approach is particularly valuable for studying rare diseases and complex chronic conditions, where patient populations are small and data is often fragmented across numerous healthcare systems.

An AI-Powered, Patient-First Platform

At the core of PicnicHealth's operating model is a sophisticated technology platform powered by artificial intelligence. The company's AI, reportedly trained on over 32 million patient records, is designed to process unstructured data from medical records—such as physician notes, lab reports, and imaging results—and transform it into high-fidelity, research-grade data. This allows for the creation of tailored study models for its life sciences partners.

"I'm honored to take on this expanded role at a pivotal moment for PicnicHealth," Federici stated. "We are focused on making high-quality, patient-centered research possible at scale. By doubling down on our strengths in non-interventional studies, we're helping life sciences partners generate meaningful evidence while improving the research experience for patients and caregivers."

This dual focus on serving both researchers and patients is a cornerstone of the company's strategy. While providing crucial data for pharmaceutical research, the platform also gives patients a powerful tool: a single, unified view of their own health history, simplifying care coordination and empowering them to take a more active role in their health.

Fueled for the Next Phase of Growth

PicnicHealth is well-capitalized to pursue the ambitious goals set for its new president. The company has raised over $100 million in funding to date, including a $60 million Series C round in 2022 led by B Capital Group. This financial backing has enabled significant strategic moves, most notably the October 2023 acquisition of AllStripes, a competing rare disease patient data platform.

The acquisition consolidated PicnicHealth's position in the valuable rare disease space and expanded its portfolio of patient cohorts. The company has stated its goal is to grow its real-world data cohorts across 30 new indications in complex, chronic, or rare conditions.

As president, Federici will oversee the continued scaling of this robust operating model. Her key responsibilities include expanding the company's leadership in natural history studies, which track the progression of diseases over time, supporting post-market drug registries, and creating seamless pathways for patients and sponsors to transition from traditional clinical trials into long-term follow-up studies. With a strong financial foundation, a differentiated technology platform, and a seasoned operational leader at the helm, PicnicHealth is poised to further solidify its influence on the future of clinical research.