Kristine McGaughey - PM360 ELITE 100 2025 - Transformational Leader

Originally published on PM360, honoring Kristine McGaughey, ConnectiveRx VP of Implementation, as a 2025 ELITE 100 recipient.

Transforming Patient Access Through Innovation

At the age of nine, Kristine McGaughey lost her mother to a rare adrenal cancer. Living through that experience exposed her to the many obstacles patients face, igniting a lifelong mission to transform the patient experience. She said, “I wanted to make a difference in a patient’s life. I knew I wouldn’t be the doctor or nurse at the bedside, but I could influence the entire patient experience through pharma and technology.”

Today, Kristine is Vice President, Implementation at ConnectiveRx, where she leads the company’s project management office and a cross-functional discipline called Launch Excellence. She’s charged with transforming how patients navigate the prescription journey. Drawing from her personal experiences, she constantly pushes to innovate access systems, advocating for patient-initiated services that better align with today’s consumer expectations and technological capabilities.

“Kristine has distinguished herself as a transformational leader by building teams capable of navigating through uncertainty toward concrete solutions,” said Gwyn Plaskon, Chief Operations Officer at ConnectiveRx. “She flourishes in environments where incomplete information and urgent deadlines require inventive approaches, and her leadership philosophy centers on creating clarity amidst complexity.”

She spent more than a decade in technology project and program leadership, gaining valuable experience developing and managing patient access services. Much of her work has focused on specialty therapeutic areas including oncology and gastrointestinal, fields connected to her mother’s experience as well as her own journey with Lynch Syndrome, a hereditary genetic disorder that increases the risk of developing certain types of cancer.

She applies a consultative approach to her work, challenging traditional hub program planning, and seeking innovative ways—like electronic prior authorizations—to accelerate time to therapy, ultimately helping patients access medications faster. Kristine doesn’t just improve processes—she dismantles barriers between patients and the treatments they need. By reimagining outdated frameworks and championing patient-centric innovations, she transforms abstract healthcare challenges into tangible solutions.

“Kristine has distinguished herself as a transformational leader by building teams capable of navigating through uncertainty toward concrete solutions.”