Kenny Yu, PharmD, recently stepped into his role as senior vice president and chief pharmacy officer at New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System with a focus on integration across care settings and within broader health system strategy.
At the center of that approach is a push to more closely align pharmacy with clinical, operational and executive priorities, particularly as care delivery becomes more distributed.
“First and foremost, it is to meet and build relationships with all our internal stakeholders to understand what our common denominator is and seeing how our pharmacy department will be able to play a role in attributing to our shared goals,” Dr. Yu said.
A key part of that effort will be strengthening coordination across the patient journey, from inpatient care to ambulatory settings and into the home — an area he sees as critical to both safety and access.
“A top priority will be to integrate the pharmacy enterprise in all service areas to ensure we can continue to deliver the highest quality and safe care for our patients through seamless coordination,” he said. “Transitions of care between inpatient to ambulatory to home are important.”
Dr. Yu brings more than 16 years of experience from New York City-based NYU Langone Health, where he held pharmacy leadership roles and helped drive systemwide initiatives centered around standardization and innovation.
“The efforts and emphasis to drive standardization, system-ness, quality of care and innovation to drive patient care and experience will continue to shape my leadership approach,” he said.
Now at Mount Sinai, he is stepping into a large and complex system with an established pharmacy foundation — creating an opportunity to scale existing strengths rather than build from scratch.
“I’m fortunate to step into a team that is already extremely strong and creative,” he said.
One of the most immediate areas for advancement, he said, is the use of AI and digital tools to improve efficiency and coordination, particularly through collaboration with the system’s digital leadership.
He pointed to the importance of cross-functional alignment, especially as care models evolve and patients move more fluidly between settings.
“Partnering and working together as one, regardless of department or expertise, we have the opportunity to help patients navigate care more upstream to provide the best outcomes and to improve timeliness of care,” he said.
That broader, system-level perspective is also shaping how he views the role of pharmacy leadership, particularly as hospitals face mounting pressure from drug costs, shortages and reimbursement challenges.
“Patient access and care will always be our North Star,” Dr. Yu said. “Ensuring we consistently are able to deliver the right medication at the right dose timely and safely will allow for pharmacy leaders to continue to be strategic partners in health system strategy.”
He emphasized that pharmacy’s role now extends beyond dispensing to include supply chain resilience, care model innovation and financial stewardship — all of which require close coordination with other leaders across the organization.
“It’s vital to tap and work with the experts in these respective areas to gain a better understanding and to be aligned, especially with the rising costs for medications and care,” he said.
Dr. Yu also sees digital infrastructure as central to the future of pharmacy operations, particularly in reducing fragmentation and improving the patient experience.
That digital foundation creates an opportunity to “redefine what operating at the top of license means with the safe and measured application of appropriate technology.”
Beyond internal operations, Dr. Yu is focused on expanding pharmacy’s role in ambulatory and specialty care — areas that continue to grow in both clinical importance and financial impact.
“If we are able to provide an end-to-end solution for our patients, then it will help with care coordination,” he said. “The goal is to keep the patient within the ecosystem to drive the best quality and safe outcomes.”
Looking ahead, he defines success in terms of both system performance and patient experience, particularly in reducing friction in how patients access medications.
Ultimately, the goal is to make care easier to navigate at a time when patients are already dealing with complex health challenges.
“If we are able to make coordinating and receiving medications less challenging and less costly for the patients that would be my benchmark for success,” Dr. Yu said.
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