Ms. McDonough is an accomplished commercial leader with more than 25 years of experience supporting the launch and growth of rare disease and specialty therapies, including first-in-disease therapies for serious, rare skin diseases. She brings deep expertise in market access strategy, reimbursement, patient services, specialty distribution, and commercial operations, with a strong track record of building integrated commercial infrastructure to enable timely patient access and provide comprehensive support for innovative therapies that are new to physicians and their patients.

Prior to joining Palvella, Ms. McDonough worked at Krystal Biotech (KRYS) from 2021 to 2026, most recently serving as Senior Vice President, Patient Access, Analytics & Operations. In this role, she led patient access, patient services, analytics, and distribution strategy and contributed to the successful launch and rapid uptake of VYJUVEK®, a re-dosable topical gene therapy for dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, supporting its growth to $389 million in annual sales by 2025 following FDA approval in 2023. Previously, she held senior leadership roles at Strongbridge Biopharma (acquired by Xeris Biopharma, XERS), where she led market access, patient services, and specialty distribution across three rare disease products, including Keveyis®, Macrilen®, and Recorlev®. Earlier in her career, she held senior roles at Cencora (COR, formerly AmerisourceBergen), EMD Serono, and CVS Health (CVS), with a focus on commercialization strategy, specialty pharmacy contracting, patient services, and market access across rare and specialty therapies. Ms. McDonough holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics and a Master of Arts in Education from the University of Pittsburgh.