Tina Vidal-Duart never imagined her career would lead her into the center of healthcare and disaster response. "I set out to be an international lawyer," she recalled. "But life had other plans." That unexpected turn led her to become CEO of CDR Health, one of the fastest-growing providers of healthcare services during crises, from pandemics to hurricanes.
Her first step into healthcare was not carefully planned, it was a leap of faith. While pursuing her master's in international business, Vidal-Duart was recruited to a healthcare startup focused on acquiring distressed hospital assets. "I knew most startups fail," she said. "But I was young, I had no children, and I thought, what do I have to lose?" As the only employee for a time, she wore every hat, HR, accounting, business development, legal, and compliance. "It was exhausting, but that breadth of experience taught me everything about running a business," she explained. By 25, she was already a hospital CEO, turning around struggling facilities and selling them to regional providers.
