McKinney Launches L.E.A.P. to Rethink Patient Advocacy and Ambassador Engagement
Laura Catalusci joins McKinney Health to lead the new practice and help healthcare brands better understand and act on
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NEW YORK, Oct. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — McKinney Health, the health, pharma and wellness practice of full-service creative agency McKinney, today announced the launch of L.E.A.P. (Living Experience Ambassador Programs) with McKinney, a new approach to patient advocacy designed to move ambassador engagement beyond content creation and toward ongoing, human-centered experience ecosystems. The agency has appointed Laura Catalusci, MA, MCHES, formerly of IPG Health, to lead the new practice as Executive Director of Advocacy.
L.E.A.P. delivers a fundamentally more human approach to ambassador programs, tapping into the human story inside the health story and transforming every ambassador interaction into intelligence. The practice enables brands not only to quickly find ambassadors, but also uncover the human stories, needs and cultural context that traditional ambassador programs and research can miss.
“Traditional ambassador programs often reduce people to talking points,” said Michael McNamara, Managing Director, McKinney. “Partnering with a recognized industry leader like Laura gives us the opportunity to rethink that model entirely. By combining her advocacy expertise with McKinney’s consumer creative pedigree, we help brands look past clinical data, listen more deeply and build authentic experiences that people actually welcome into their lives.”
The need for a more human approach is growing as people increasingly turn to peer communities and platforms for candid conversations and support around their health. These conversations can reveal questions, frustrations, workarounds, victories and everyday experiences that traditional research or scripted ambassador programs do not always capture.
The L.E.A.P. model treats every interaction with the Ambassador Community as intelligence. Through a combination of individual conversations, surveys and preference-based outreach, culture and pulse checks, Q&As, co-creation, projects and “follow along” experiences, L.E.A.P. captures what life actually looks like as people navigate health. That intelligence directly informs strategy, creative, education, communications, advocacy and brand experiences — creating a continuous loop between the people living the experience and the brands working to support them. Behind that system, McKinney’s expert experience navigation team thinks through every detail so patients don’t have to.
“People don’t become ambassadors and stop being patients, caregivers, parents or partners. They’re living all of those experiences at once,” said Laura Catalusci, Executive Director of Advocacy, McKinney. “L.E.A.P. with McKinney is about creating the space and relationships to understand the questions people are asking, the experiences that shape them, the connections they value and the things they’ve learned along the way. Their lived experience becomes a powerful source of truth that helps brands become active participants in patient engagement and advocacy.”
Catalusci brings more than two decades of experience across CPG, health and pharma, with a focus on reimagining how brands connect with and support people through behavior change, health literacy and patient experience. A Master Certified Health Education Specialist, she was named a PM360 Elite 100 Master Educator for her dedication, innovation and award-winning patient experience design. At IPG Health, she co-founded YuzuYello, a patient support and services capability, as well as YuzuZest, a dedicated ambassador agency. At McKinney, she will work alongside the experience navigation, strategy and creative teams to integrate advocacy into the agency’s work from the start, creating a connected model that turns lived experience into brand insight and action.
L.E.A.P. starts with a simple premise: understand people deeply, identify what matters to them and create experiences worthy of their attention. From the agency that operates at the intersection of health and life, L.E.A.P. gives brands a more human way to engage the communities they serve.
About McKinney
McKinney is a full-service creative agency that gets unfair attention for brands. In 2024 and 2025, McKinney was named to both Ad Age’s A-List and its list of Best Places to Work – two years in a row – and was recognized as one of Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators in 2024, reinforcing the agency’s commitment to providing an exceptional workplace culture where employees thrive and creativity flourishes. McKinney Health, the agency’s Pharma and Wellness practice launched in 2022, was named Manny’s Agency of the Year in 2025 and appeared on Medical Marketing + Media’s Best Place to Work list in 2025 and its Agency 100 lists in 2024, 2025 and 2026. McKinney is part of the Cheil Agency Network and has offices across North America, including Durham, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Phoenix and Toronto. McKinney has been recognized by Cannes Lions, Effies, The One Show, D&AD, ANDY, CLIO, LIA, the Shortys and The Webby Awards, among others. Client partners include brands such as Blue Diamond Growers, Little Caesars, Pampers, Henkel, Samsung, Alcon, Sherwin-Williams, Biogen and the Ad Council. For more information, visit mckinney.com.
Powell Communications
McKinney@powellny.com
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