5 Women Transforming Healthcare Through Technology

Read time: 6.5 minutes

When it comes to technologies aimed at improving patient health, consumer-facing digital solutions like telehealth, mobile health apps and internet-connected wearables are typically first to come to mind.

But there are countless behind-the-scenes technologies and software applications playing a tremendous role in accelerating patient health outcomes today – from automated medication distribution and electronic health records to data platforms that enable practitioners to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time with their patients (and, ultimately, help ease clinician burnout in the process).

Meet five women from across our company whose work in health technology is making a significant impact in the lives of healthcare customers and patients everywhere.

Kristy Tamayo: Using Data to Transform Cancer Care

 McKesson tenure: 19 years

How she got into technology: Kristy’s background began in clinical oncology research. She was involved in molecular genetics research for leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center for several years before landing a role doing clinical oncology trial research at McKesson. But it wasn’t until one of her peers began working on McKesson’s Clinical Informatics team, which oversees the clinical data in the company’s proprietary electronic health records (EHR) system, iKnowMed^SM, that Kristy saw an opportunity to marry her research background with technology to make a difference in cancer care.

The work she's leading now: Kristy serves as a director of Clinical Informatics for Ontada, McKesson’s oncology technology and data business. She and her colleagues create and manage clinical data for iKnowMed and other Ontada products, which is converted into actionable information that researchers and clinicians can use to advance cancer treatments in a timely manner. This information enables them to calculate cancer stage, as well as inform and provide recommendations for treatment options, including clinical research opportunities. At the end of the day, everything Kristy and her team do is driven by their determination to help patients get the best treatment they need faster.

“If you had told my 18-year-old self that my future career would be in technology services, I probably would have laughed at you. But today, I’m using my clinical knowledge to help build data platforms that are changing patients’ lives.”

Megan Bowser: Simplifying the Prior Authorization Process

 McKesson tenure: 16 years

Where she started: Megan’s career began right out of school as a software developer at McKesson, where she’s held various leadership roles across the company.

What she's doing now: Today, many patients face long delays in getting medications they need due to the complexities of the traditional, paper-based prior authorization (PA) process. When a provider submits a PA request for a patient’s prescription to an insurance company for coverage, insurance can approve or deny coverage of that medication for various reasons. When a PA request is denied, patients experience delays in receiving the medicine they need, which is why the work Megan and her team are doing is so critical.

Two years ago, Megan joined CoverMyMeds, a McKesson business dedicated to helping people access the medicine they need to live healthier lives. In her current role as senior director of engineering, Megan oversees the core functionality of the business’ PA product lines, which help healthcare providers submit PA requests electronically for approval. Her team develops the applications that healthcare providers interact with and helps ensure the underlying infrastructure those applications run on is functioning soundly. Ultimately, these services help expedite patients’ time to therapy because they securely and electronically transmit PA requests between pharmacies, providers and health plans, reducing the need for handwritten forms and phone calls.

“It never gets old when we hear about someone finally getting on a much-needed medication. I may not be working with patients directly, but knowing my team’s work serves such an important purpose is incredibly rewarding.”

Ruchi Prasad: Driving Actionable Insights for Customers

 McKesson tenure: 4 years

Where she began: Ruchi studied physics and business economics in India before moving to the U.S. to earn her MBA. She launched her career doing product management, marketing, strategy and general management at a major telecom company before making the leap to healthcare in 2010. When she joined McKesson, her first role involved replacing a legacy data and analytics platform with a customer-friendly alternative across all customer segments, as well as streamlining our digital retail solutions.

What she's doing now: Ruchi credits her physics and business background for her successful tech and product management career. As vice president of B2B Reporting and Analytics for McKesson’s Pharmaceutical Technology & Innovation Group, she leads the Quarterly Business Review Tool, which enables our sales team to have meaningful discussions with customers about their data and insights, as well as product management of our Enterprise Reporting and Analytics (ERA) platform. ERA is an easy-to-use, self-service enterprise solution that provides customers with improved data transparency, advanced analytics and valuable insights. Ruchi and her team launched ERA with the goal of not only improving customers’ financial success through actionable intelligence, but also lifting the burden of handling data analysis themselves.

“I thrive on working with our customers and delivering value for them and for McKesson. The work my team is doing allows customers to spend less time cleaning and interpreting data and instead do what they do best: focus on ways to help support patient care.”

Shubhangi Joshi: From Self-Taught Coder to 340B Software Architect

 McKesson tenure: 10 years

How she started: Shubhangi majored in math and worked as an assistant professor at a prestigious university in India before moving to the U.S. Upon arriving here, she taught herself how to develop software and was hired by a company for an entry-level developer role. She performed her job so well that she attracted the attention of McKesson, who hired her in 2012 as the first developer for its recently acquired business, Macro Helix. Her mission: to build its application suite for the 340B pharmacy program, which enables patients to get much-needed medications regardless of their income level.

The work she's leading today: Over the past decade, Shubhangi accepted increasing responsibilities and challenges that led to her current role as director of architecture and development at Macro Helix. Today, she oversees a team to chart out new initiatives, adopt emerging technology and establish McKesson as a leading provider in the 340B space with cloud-first architecture.

The “why” behind the work: The work Shubhangi’s team leads allows customers to have accurate and secure data right at their fingertips, while assisting them with the administrative burden of handling 340B claims. Ultimately, their goal is to enable hospitals and pharmacists to provide better care to patients.

“We’ve come a long way since I created our first application, and I’m very proud of the work my team has done to help our customers succeed. Every day I remind myself, ‘It’s not an easy job, but you can do it – own it with a dash of passion.’”

Theresa Holstead: Streamlining COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Through Technology

 McKesson tenure: 35 years

Where she started: Theresa began her McKesson career in our distribution centers, where she picked and packed orders of medications and medical supplies. It’s a role that allowed her to become intimately familiar with the complexity of distribution operations.

What she's doing now: Theresa works for McKesson Technology supporting McKesson Medical-Surgical as a business engagement partner, where she helps business areas improve performance through innovative digital and data solutions. When Medical-Surgical took charge of the ancillary supply kit operations to support COVID-19 vaccines, she helped lead the rollout of technology systems to meet the rapid response and evolving needs of the program to help ensure success of the mission.

Why this work matters: In the summer of 2020, the U.S. government tapped our company to support the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and ancillary supply kits needed to administer them. But the effort to get distribution centers (DCs) up and running in a short amount of time was no small feat. That’s why the work Theresa is doing in technology today has been instrumental to our ancillary supply kit operations to-date.

“My team is all about finding the best way to take care of the customer through technology, and if we see a better way to meet their needs, we’re going to make it happen.”