When critical healthcare services are unavailable during emergencies—such as outbreaks, natural disasters, or public health crises—delays in care can have devastating consequences. Lives are at risk, vulnerable populations may go without essential treatment, and communities struggle to recover. Access to timely, high-quality healthcare can mean the difference between life and death. Dedicated healthcare and emergency response leaders step in to fill these gaps, providing rapid, efficient, and scalable medical solutions. They manage large-scale vaccinations, provide antiviral treatments, and run field operations in extreme conditions—maintaining safety, compliance, and data security—to ensure timely care and strengthen community resilience.
Tina Vidal-Duart, Chief Executive Officer at CDR Health and Executive Vice President at CDR Companies, exemplifies this type of leadership. Drawing on her experience in transforming struggling hospitals and navigating complex healthcare systems, she ensures that operations remain agile, teams stay strong, and technology is leveraged for maximum impact. Under her leadership, CDR Health has scaled rapidly, managing mass public health initiatives such as vaccinations, testing, and antiviral treatments, while also responding to hurricanes, floods, and wildfires.
Her strategic vision, decisive management, and dedication to quality care have helped the company achieve remarkable milestones:
- Over 7 million people served
- More than 220,000 refugees assisted
- Over 150,000 antiviral treatments delivered
- Over $1 billion in healthcare services provided over four years
These achievements solidify the organization’s reputation as a leader in emergency healthcare.
From Law Aspirations to Healthcare Leadership
Tina Vidal-Duart originally planned to become an international lawyer, but during her master’s program, she was recruited by a healthcare startup, opening her to a field she had not previously considered. She spent over a decade turning around financially distressed hospitals in rural markets, gaining experience in navigating complex healthcare systems, optimizing resources, and improving patient outcomes under challenging conditions. After exploring other industries for a time, the COVID-19 pandemic drew her back to healthcare.
Through CDR Companies’ Emergency Management division, she helped provide state and local governments with PPE, medical supplies, and lab capacity at a moment when many traditional vendors were unable to meet demand. This experience highlighted a critical gap in rapid-response healthcare services and ultimately led to the creation of CDR Health, an organization dedicated to delivering timely, high-quality medical care during emergencies.
Mass Vaccinations Under Extreme Pressure
In the early days of CDR Health, Tina Vidal-Duart faced unprecedented, life-or-death challenges brought on by the pandemic. With limited healthcare options, every decision carried significant consequences. A particularly difficult moment came when Florida requested the vaccination of over 250,000 residents across 3,000 long-term care facilities within just 21 days. Coordinating such a large-scale operation seemed nearly impossible, but under her leadership, the team deployed 5,000 staff members, streamlined logistics, and executed the task faster than any previous provider. This experience reinforced key lessons for Tina and the organization: the value of decisive action, meticulous planning, and trusting the team—principles that continue to guide CDR Health’s operations today.
Beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, CDR Health has delivered critical healthcare in extreme field conditions, assisting communities affected by hurricanes, wildfires, and floods. Teams often work with minimal resources, enduring long hours and sleeping on the floor, motivated by the urgent need to save lives. This dedication to providing high-quality care under the most challenging circumstances underscores the organization’s mission: to reach those in need, wherever they are, and deliver lifesaving support when others cannot.
Fostering Team Confidence and Initiative
Early in her career, Tina Vidal-Duart was very hands-on and moved quickly whenever she saw an opportunity, often pushing past obstacles without hesitation. While this approach helped achieve fast results and break through bureaucratic barriers, she soon realized the value of trust and empowering her team. Today, she focuses on building strong, capable teams and giving them ownership of their work. This approach allows the organization to grow efficiently, encourages collaboration, and creates a culture where employees feel confident, supported, and motivated to take initiative.
Unmatched Speed And Agility
CDR Health is known for its unmatched speed and agility. As co-owners, Tina Vidal-Duart and her husband, Carlos Duart, can make decisions instantly without waiting for bureaucratic approvals, enabling rapid responses during crises. The company fosters a culture of continuous process improvement, regularly evaluating what works, identifying areas for improvement, and implementing new technology or workflows immediately. This ongoing refinement keeps CDR Health ahead of competitors and ensures consistent, high-quality outcomes for patients.
Proprietary Turnkey Software for Mass Care
CDR Health developed proprietary turnkey software to support mass COVID testing, vaccinations, and monoclonal antibody treatments. The platform handles everything from appointment scheduling to post-treatment monitoring in field settings. Unlike other systems, it tracks each individual from check-in to check-out and monitors for potential adverse reactions. First adopted by the state of Florida, the software is now used in multiple states for public health initiatives, enabling scalable and efficient healthcare delivery beyond traditional hospital settings.
Compliance And Security At The Core
Compliance and security are at the core of CDR Health’s operations. Tina ensures that the organization strictly adheres to all federal, state, and local regulations, including HIPAA, and collaborates with external firms to conduct thorough security assessments. Systems are continuously monitored for vulnerabilities, partners are vetted for compliance, and employees are trained to identify and prevent potential breaches. This proactive approach under her leadership helps keep patient data secure while upholding ethical responsibility across all projects.
AI in Enhancing Diagnostics and Treatment Plans
Tina Vidal-Duart shares that AI is set to transform healthcare in many ways, from improving diagnostics and treatment plans to enhancing patient interactions and overall operational efficiency. It will create new opportunities for professionals skilled in AI, while some traditional roles may become less relevant. Personalized medicine, driven by genetics and data analytics, will grow in importance, enabling treatments and preventive care to be tailored to each individual. These developments are expected to reshape healthcare delivery, particularly in emergency and public health settings, making services faster, more accurate, and more effective.
Feedback Into Actionable Insights
Feedback is a core part of CDR Health’s process improvement approach. Every piece of feedback is seen as a chance to learn and grow. After each project, thorough after-action reviews are conducted, input is gathered from key stakeholders, and improvements are implemented to boost efficiency, patient outcomes, and overall performance. This ongoing commitment to learning ensures continuous improvement with every new challenge.
See the Big Picture
For new CEOs or professionals entering healthcare or public service, Tina advises:
- Focus on the big picture
- Build a trusted core team to manage daily operations
- Track key performance metrics and maintain strong financial oversight
- Stay updated on technological advances and adopt innovations
- Align life with passion, as doing what you love doesn’t feel like work
- Prioritize quality time with family over quantity
Strategic Partnerships for Rapid Medical Response
CDR Health is building strategic partnerships with staffing and infrastructure providers to become a fully turnkey medical emergency response organization. This approach enables the company to manage most operations internally, deploy resources more quickly, and operate more efficiently than its competitors.
Path Matters More Than the Goal
Tina believes in enjoying the journey rather than focusing solely on the end goal. Once a goal is achieved, the real reflection is on the path taken and the experiences along the way, appreciating how much that process was enjoyed.
Recognized Excellence
Over the past three years, Tina has received numerous awards and recognitions:
- Recognized as one of the most influential women in Florida politics
- Named a top 100 healthcare professional
- Acknowledged as one of Miami’s leading influencers in philanthropy
While these honors are significant, her greatest pride comes from the positive impact on the community through healthcare initiatives, disaster response efforts, and philanthropic work.
Her achievements and contributions have also been highlighted in prominent media outlets, including:
further underscoring her influence and dedication.
Tina Vidal-Duart’s 5 Powerful Business Lessons
- Act Decisively in Crisis: Rapid, well-planned decisions save lives and create lasting impact.
- Empower Teams: Trust and empower your people, give them ownership to drive efficiency and innovation.
- Embrace Technology: Leverage innovative tools and AI to enhance operations and scale services.
- Continuous Improvement: Treat feedback as a learning opportunity; refine processes to stay ahead of challenges.
- Value the Journey: Focus on the path, not just the goal, and align work with passion for sustainable success.
