Dec 16, 2025
At Precision AQ, we know that navigating patient access challenges requires more than data—it takes real-world expertise. That’s why we’ve launched our Meet Our Access Experience Team series, introducing the industry insiders who help life science companies anticipate payer challenges, optimize access strategies, and accelerate time to therapy.
Meet Julianna Kula, PharmD, BCOP, VP of Clinical Oncology Solutions on the OncoGenius team at Precision AQ. Let’s hear from Julianna.
Q&A with Julianna Kula
Q: Can you share a bit about your background and areas of specialty?
My subject matter expertise aligns to my background as a clinical pharmacist at major cancer centers in the U.S. My background in both community practice and institutions offers a unique blend of how cancer care is delivered across the U.S.
Additionally, having delivered care to both pediatric and adult patients, I bring a lens that allows me to share patient experiences across multiple life stages. If I were to consider my areas of focus within cancer care, pediatrics will always hold a special place in my heart. But since treating adult patients, my areas of focus have been on reproductive cancer diagnoses (breast, ovarian, cervical, prostate, testicular).
With a strong background in research, I am passionate about ensuring efficient bench-to-bedside access to new medications.
Q: Where did you work prior to Precision AQ?
Prior to joining Precision AQ almost four years ago, I worked for Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers and the U.S. Oncology Network as a senior clinical pharmacist and research pharmacist. I was there for over five years.
Prior to moving to Colorado, I worked at Stanford Children’s Hospital as a pediatric oncology pharmacist and investigational drug pharmacist. That’s where I began my career as a clinical pharmacist. I also have experience as a pharmacy technician and intern at both the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinicals and Boston Children’s Hospital.
Q: What unique perspectives do you bring to ensuring patient access?
I believe the most important aspect of quality cancer care is shared decision-making between providers and patients. Cancer care is very personal, with different avenues that are all correct. In a time when many patients feel they have no control, allowing them to be active decision-makers in their care gives them a sense of control.
That sense of control can often lead to more informed decisions, ensuring the therapy they receive is therapy they believe in. That belief can positively impact their mental and emotional well-being during cancer care. Recognizing patients’ goals of care and customizing therapy within appropriate boundaries to meet those goals is a vital part of treating cancer patients.
Q: How has earning your board certification in oncology helped your clients more effectively overcome access obstacles in oncology?
I became board-certified to ensure I remained proficient in oncology therapies and to show my expertise in the field. I think this may help clients overcome access obstacles in oncology more effectively for two reasons.
One, by remaining up to date on the latest therapies in oncology, I can offer real-time subject matter expertise and opinions on those therapies. I can also provide insights on how recent data releases affect a client’s product both directly and competitively.
Secondly, by maintaining my board certification, I believe it instills trust that the insights I’m providing are accurate and relevant.
Q: Which healthcare trends aren’t getting enough attention?
Clinical trials do not represent today’s population. Minority populations are underrepresented and sometimes not represented at all. Clinical trials can allow patients access to the newest therapies and can also provide financial support for medications and procedures where insurance coverage may be lacking.
We also know that different ethnic populations can respond differently to therapies due to differences in metabolic processes or predispositions to specific mutations or targets. Being underrepresented can leave us blind to potential outcomes or side effects that may arise in real-world experience.
Better representation of today’s population can increase access and financial support to therapies and provide insights into how patients of different ethnic backgrounds may respond to new therapies.
Q: Which trends will reshape healthcare in the next 1–3 years?
AI has transformed health care in ways we never imagined were possible. Continued experiences and model training will increase confidence in AI-based tools and accelerate their usage, providing efficiencies that the healthcare system is in desperate need of.Q: What are you most passionate about in healthcare?
The patient experience. As health care providers, we focus on the science and data. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in that. Focusing on the patient’s experience and needs and wants keeps us grounded and focused on what’s most important. If we focus on what’s right and what’s most important to the patient, we can ensure we’re providing quality care.
Putting ourselves in our patients’ shoes, posing the question ‘if this were you, your parent, sibling, child, etc, would you make the same decision?’ ‘How would you want this experience to go?’ can often help us re-evaluate priorities and level set on what’s truly important.
Q: What do you enjoy most about working at Precision AQ?
The team! Working with colleagues who are like-minded but come from different perspectives allows Precision AQ to provide a 360-degree view of the oncology landscape. Leaning on colleagues who come from different health care lenses offers multiple perspectives from a variety of stakeholders. Knowing my team is behind me provides confidence that I can support clients regardless of whether I have the experience directly or tap into colleagues’ experiences.
Q: What should life science organizations prioritize in innovation?
A dream of mine has always been a healthcare system where all of the pillars, provider, payer, pharma, and patient (“the 4 P’s”) work together to determine the best individualized cancer care.
The disconnect between the pillars today is a major driver of the chaos in the healthcare system. If patients and providers practice shared decision making and payer and pharma join forces with the provider without conflicting drug utilization management strategies and burdensome barriers, what is truly in the patient’s best interest should conquer all. Patients require access to different resources and therapies.
Focusing on the individualized care of each patient, I believe, will reduce costs by eliminating inefficiencies and the resources used to control one another through a “one size fits all” approach.
About Precision AQ’s Access Experience Team
Precision AQ’s Access Experience Team (AET), originally launched in 2009, was created to bridge the gap between life sciences companies and key access decision-makers. Today, AET offers deep insight into payer and provider dynamics, helping clients navigate the full spectrum of access challenges.
Comprising more than 25 former decision-makers from prominent managed care organizations, specialty pharmacies, health plans, and provider settings, the AET brings firsthand experience to reimbursement barriers, evolving policies, and real-world care delivery.
As an integrated part of Precision AQ, AET helps clients translate payer and provider practices into actionable strategies that improve patient access.
Want to connect? Reach out to julianna.kula@precisionaq.com.