Promoting Better Patient and Public Health

Thought Leader Select is a Chapel Hill, NC-based private consulting firm serving the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics industries with strategies, in-house research, and a suite of engagement tools and support for collaborating with and reaching out to key opinion leaders and centers of excellence in medicine.

Thought Leader Select has supported over 30 companies as they develop effective treatments to promote better patient and public health across more than 18 therapeutic areas and 50 diseases and conditions. Thought Leader Select’s customized work strengthens medical marketing initiatives, medical affairs outreach, and payer marketing strategies to support market access, pricing, and reimbursement issues.

Powered by an in-house research arm that has assessed the skills, experience, and sentiments of thousands of leading medical professionals and institutions, we are the “experts on the experts,” building engagement frameworks for physicians and allied health professionals for advisory boards, consulting, and speaker programs, as well as medical science liaison panels and clinical trial collaboration.

Thought Leader Select

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Washington Business & Career Women Young Careerist Award

Graduated Cum Laude. Focus on entrepreneurship, marketing, and management coursework.

Park Boat Company Powersports (Corporate Officer)

Beaufort Department of Social Services Permanency Planning Action Team

Beaufort/Hyde (NC) Developmental Center

Beaufort/Hyde (NC) Partnership for Children

Kristen Smithwick, a 14-year veteran researcher and consultant to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, leads business development, marketing, and strategic planning at Thought Leader Select, a Chapel Hill, NC-based firm that promotes thought leadership in medicine. 

As Vice President, Kristen drives internal resources on a number of fronts, including strategic partnerships and product/service development to help biopharmaceutical clients understand the ever-changing landscape of the influence of key opinion leaders and centers of excellence in the medical profession.

Kristen routinely interacts with clients in brand and product management roles, as well as medical affairs leaders, crafting strategies for engagement in support of cutting-edge treatments. To date, Kristen has led client research and consulting efforts in over 18 therapeutic areas and 50 diseases and conditions, including areas such as neurology, cardiology, endocrinology, ophthalmology, and infectious diseases.  She has identified and profiled thousands of thought leaders and medical centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Latin America in support of over two dozen of the world's leading drug developers. 

Kristen is available for conference panels, as well as corporate training and workshops for companies interested in optimizing KOL strategies for better engagement and compliance with existing and emerging legislation and regulations, such as the Sunshine Act.

Msl Strategies for Kol Outreach

Pharma Marketing Strategies for Kol Outreach

Key Opinion Leaders

Centers of Excellence

Kol Identification

Kol Mapping

Kol Engagement

Kol Profiling

Keynote Presenter

Numerous research results presentations on-site to executives at top companies, such as GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Xerox, General Motors and more.

Facilitator and Moderator of numerous discussion sessions on various business topics and presented best practices in branding, marketing, leadership development and customer services.

Determining the scope of key opinion leader and centers of excellence engagement, as well as determining appropriate research areas to facilitate decision-making for appropriate engagement with health care professionals on industry marketing initiatives, including advisory boards, consulting, and media. 

Customizing KOL Strategies to Meet the Needs of Emerging Brands

Vice President of Business Development, Marketing, and Strategic Planning

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