The national healthcare reform organization, Patients Come First (PCF), announced today that Kasia Mulligan will be the group's new spokesperson.
PCF launched March 18, reported Patient Daily, with executive directors in California, Missouri, and New Jersey.
“Regrettably, bad actors and threats to care extend beyond our healthcare system, posing substantial risks to ongoing innovation,” said Mulligan in a statement. “Patients are ultimately the beneficiaries of our innovation ecosystem, and any factor that prevents R&D efforts does a disservice to those that need care to live a healthier life.”
Mulligan has been the founder of her own consulting firm, Elevated Navigation, LLC, as well as an executive with several D.C.-based communications firms, according to her LinkedIn profile. She previously worked as communications director for U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and as manager of external affairs for the American Enterprise Institute.
The PCF website says it will “strive to put patients at the forefront of healthcare” through “advocacy, science, education, and collaboration” on issues including prescription drug payments and discounts, co-pay assistance, government drug price negotiations, and the federal 340b drug discount program, among others.
The PCF-California executive director is Julie Gill Shuffield, who founded the public affairs firm, Sutter Buttes Advisors. She also founded Power of 100 Sutter Buttes Basin, a charitable community women's group. Gill Shuffield was named Woman of the Year by U.S. Rep. John Garamendi (D-Fairfield) in 2019, and she previously worked as director of regulatory and government affairs at AES Corporation and in external affairs for California ISO.
Former Associated Press (AP) reporter Connie Farrow is the Missouri executive director. She worked as an AP reporter in Kansas City from 1993 to 2005. She also worked as the communications director for Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, and was a Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellow from 2012-2013.
In New Jersey, the executive director is longtime communications professional Jeannette Hoffman. In addition to running a public affairs firm, Marathon Public Affairs, Hoffman previously worked as vice president of government affairs and communications for The Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey. She also previously worked as an aide to former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R-N.J.).
