Karen McConnell, PharmD, MBA, FCCP, FASHP, BCPS, is chief pharmacy officer for University of Michigan Health (Michigan Medicine) and associate dean of clinical affairs for the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy.
She joined the health system and college in February 2025, bringing more than 25 years of clinical pharmacy and pharmacy leadership experience to a shared role that spans inpatient and outpatient pharmacy operations, home infusion, specialty pharmacy and clinical pharmacy services, aligning strategic priorities between the hospital system and the college. Dr. McConnell began her career with a PGY1 residency at Cox Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri, followed by a specialty residency at Kaiser Permanente Colorado in Denver, where she remained as a clinical pharmacy specialist in cardiology for 15 years before joining Cardinal Health as a clinical director.
In 2017, she joined Catholic Health Initiatives as system director of clinical pharmacy services, and after its 2019 merger with Dignity Health formed CommonSpirit Health, she took on system director of clinical and contracting pharmacy services.
She was named system vice president of the pharmacy enterprise and chief pharmacy officer for CommonSpirit Health in 2021, a role in which she led pharmacy operations, clinical services and revenue integrity across a system of more than 140 hospitals and 2,200 care sites in 24 states. Dr. McConnell earned her PharmD from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and her MBA from Grand Canyon University. She has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles focused on high-cost drugs, continuing professional development and cardiology, and is a fellow of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy.
Dr. McConnell is active in national pharmacy and healthcare organizations, regularly presenting at national and international conferences and serving on advisory boards for healthcare companies.
She also devotes considerable time to engaging with pharmacists and health leaders within and beyond her own health system, championing the value of pharmacy across the field.
In this capacity she sets strategic priorities for the pharmacy department and oversees teams spanning inpatient, retail, specialty, clinical and home-infusion services across the academic health system. She joined Michigan Medicine from CommonSpirit Health, a multistate system, where she served as its first chief pharmacy officer after holding roles including system director of clinical pharmacy and contracting services and system vice president of pharmacy enterprise.
Earlier in her career, Dr. McConnell worked as a clinical pharmacy specialist in cardiology at Kaiser Permanente Colorado and held positions connected to Cardinal Health and Catholic Health Initiatives.
She earned her doctor of pharmacy from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and her master of business administration from Grand Canyon University. Her postgraduate training included a pharmacy practice residency at Cox Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri, and a specialty residency at Kaiser Permanente in Denver.
A fellow of both the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, she is recognized for advancing clinical pharmacy practice at health-system scale. Dr. McConnell has been named to Becker’s list of hospital and health system chief pharmacy officers to know.