Zach Jones, Pharm.D. | 2026 MHE Emerging Leaders in Healthcare

I was born and raised in Minnesota, where my earliest professional influences were my parents, both entrepreneurs. Growing up, I watched them take on multiple roles to build and sustain their businesses, and their dedication, versatility and resilience have strongly shaped how I approach my own career. I earned both my bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences and my Pharm.D. from North Dakota State University. My professional background began with nearly nine years in retail pharmacy, starting during my undergraduate studies, before transitioning into managed care through a residency at HealthPartners. Following residency, I joined Prime Therapeutics, where I have spent the past seven years and currently direct commercial formulary strategies.

Turning point in your career

The most impactful turning point in my career was in my final year of pharmacy school. I intentionally sought out rotations in nontraditional settings to explore paths beyond hospital and retail practice. Two rotation settings were particularly formative, one at Eli Lilly and the other at HealthPartners. At Eli Lilly, I worked in early‑phase clinical development, analyzing a pipeline molecule relative to emerging competitors, an exercise that required compiling clinical evidence through a strategic lens. At HealthPartners, an integrated health plan and care delivery system with facilities in Minnesota and Wisconsin, I found similar opportunities to translate clinical insight to make population‑level drug management decisions. I found these experiences to be challenging and rewarding, and they ultimately led me to pursue a career in managed care.

Biggest day-to-day challenges

My biggest challenge is translating complex clinical evidence into decisions that are timely, financially sound, operationally feasible, and clearly defensible to both internal and external audiences.

Use of AI

The impact of AI [artificial intelligence] at Prime is evolving rapidly. I’m using it across several areas, including data analysis, drafting and reframing reports, preparing presentations, and supporting project management. As the technology and use cases continue to mature, I expect my answer to this question will look different if asked a month or a year from now.

Top priority

Deliver consistent, integrated pharmacy and medical benefit strategies that help plans manage specialty trend, improve affordability and simplify operations.

Recommended book, article, podcast, TV show or documentary

“Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande has left a lasting impression on me by challenging traditional notions of goals of care in healthcare. It reinforces the importance of grounding formulary and clinical program decisions in the patient experience, not solely in clinical outcomes or cost management.

Making U.S. healthcare less expensive

Tough question. There are many factors that have led to high costs in the U.S. healthcare system, and unfortunately, there is no reset button to fix it. Some of the biggest changes we’ve recently seen have come because of updated federal policies, causing major shifts in pricing and reimbursement dynamics. I believe additional policy and regulatory changes will be required to result in meaningful reductions in healthcare expenses.

Personal goal

Outside of work this year, I’m looking forward to taking on a hands-on project by building a shed over the summer. I also plan to spend as much time as possible on the lake with my family — boating, fishing, swimming and making the most of Minnesota’s too-short summer.