COVID-19 real-world evidence primer

Executive Summary: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of real-world data (RWD) for research accelerated, supporting the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic via conduct of rigorous studies on the safety and effectiveness of diagnostics, drug repurposing, and novel therapies and vaccines in near real time. The use of RWD has many advantages, most notably that data typically are collected as a part of routine health care and are available expeditiously and often for large populations. However, there are special considerations for the use of these data for the secondary purpose of research. To learn from the evolving lessons of addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and to bolster the future use of real-world evidence (RWE), we created this primer to describe the RWD ecosystem. We included key principles of study design and potential sources of bias, examples of COVID-19 studies that use RWD, and mechanisms for disseminating RWE gleaned from the conduct of RWD research. We also introduce the COVID-19 Evidence Accelerator initiative that was established during the pandemic to support RWD study conduct.

Access the full Primer here.

Related work

News January 8, 2026
Evidation Launches Temporal Proteomics Platform to Power Autoimmune Research
Read

News December 16, 2025
‍Evidation Shares Insights on Real-World GLP-1 Dosing Behaviors from Over 60,000 Individuals
Read

News December 2, 2025
Evidation Appoints Dr. Ghazanfar Khan as Chief Medical Officer
Read

Upcoming events

Thanks to everyone who took the time to meet with us in San Francisco at this year’s J.P. Morgan Annual Conference and its surrounding events. Our team looks forward to staying in touch and helping you produce better health outcomes in 2023!

Get to know your Evidation team

Bertina Yen, Evidation's Senior Vice President of People & Community

Bertina Yen is Evidation's Senior Vice President of People & Community, where she is responsible for the end-to-end employee experience and building a community that supports everyone's ability to show up as their authentic selves and perform their best work. Prior to joining Evidation, Bertina served as EVP overseeing clinical teams, product management, marketing, and product development at Zynx Health, driving development of evidence-based clinical decision support solutions that improve health and financial outcomes.

Bertina received her BAS from Stanford, then completed her MD and residency in internal medicine at UC San Diego. She also holds an MPH in health services administration from UCLA.

Bertina is the resident DJ at Evidation and sources the music that is played during the All-Employee Meetings. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, traveling, and watching anything with a live audience (sporting events, plays, movies). She also starts every morning by completing at least one crossword puzzle!

Connect with Bertina here.

Publications & Abstracts

COVID-19 real-world evidence primer

Executive Summary: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of real-world data (RWD) for research accelerated, supporting the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic via conduct of rigorous studies on the safety and effectiveness of diagnostics, drug repurposing, and novel therapies and vaccines in near real time. The use of RWD has many advantages, most notably that data typically are collected as a part of routine health care and are available expeditiously and often for large populations. However, there are special considerations for the use of these data for the secondary purpose of research. To learn from the evolving lessons of addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and to bolster the future use of real-world evidence (RWE), we created this primer to describe the RWD ecosystem. We included key principles of study design and potential sources of bias, examples of COVID-19 studies that use RWD, and mechanisms for disseminating RWE gleaned from the conduct of RWD research. We also introduce the COVID-19 Evidence Accelerator initiative that was established during the pandemic to support RWD study conduct.

Access the full Primer here.