Julia Wermerskirchen

Vice President, Payer and Provider Relations at Optum Frontier Therapies

Speaker

As the co-founder, and Vice President of Payer and Provider Relations of Optum Frontier Therapies, Julia Wermerskirchen works cross-functionally across the health care ecosystem to enable patient access to emerging therapies through improved collaboration. She is responsible for unlocking payer access pathways, developing strategic business initiatives that enable sustained therapy access, partnering with prescribers to navigate coverage pathways, and ensuring the patient/caregiver voice is a central part of the healthcare journey.

With over 15 years of experience serving the rare disease community Julia deeply understands the complexities of living with a rare condition and considerations for advanced therapies. Prior to her work with Optum Frontier Therapies, Julia led numerous strategic initiatives within UnitedHealth Group to advance innovative reimbursement methods and implement rare patient community partnerships. Her experience also includes managing specialty and rare investigational assets with Coram Clinical Trials, providing direct patient care for the bleeding disorders community with Coram Healthcare and managing nuclear medicine therapies with Triad Isotopes.

Ms. Wermerskirchen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and Sociology from Vanderbilt University and a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy. In her spare time, Ms. Wermerskirchen mentors pharmacy students through her local AMCP student chapter and serves on the board of a non-profit for children with traumatic vision loss.