Patient Empowerment World Congress 2025 Europe
“The importance of Patient Empowerment in pharma and healthcare in achieving improved health outcomes, building greater trust, and driving innovation within the industry"
Hilton London Kensington, London, United Kingdom
Day 2 - Friday 26th September 2025
Emma Sutcliffe, Founder, ISPEP
CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES IN EMPOWERING PATIENTS
- How can DEI empower individuals
- Promoting cultural competency, understanding the social determinants of health that affect specific
communities and considering patients’ unique needs - How DEI improves patient outcomes thru better communication, build trust and address systemic biases?
- Evidence-based interventions to tackle disparities in health status and access to care
- Benefits of integrating patient engagement with diversity, equity, and inclusion in new medical product development
Moderator:
Panellists:
Steve Clark, Founder and Patient Advocate, Strive for Five
Lara Bloom, President and CEO, The Ehlers-Danlos Society
Sarah Cross Ph, Vice President, Global Head of Medical Affairs, Premier Research
- Explore the transformative power of empathy and communication in clinical settings.
- Emphasize the need to shift from transactional medical dialogue to person-centred conversations.
- Challenge systemic norms that dehumanize the patient experience.
Lara Bloom, President and CEO, The Ehlers-Danlos Society
This resolution is not just symbolic. It provides a concrete, evidence-backed roadmap for engaging patients, people with lived experience, healthcare providers, and civil society in a structured, measurable, accountable and resourced way in health system design, delivery and decision-making. It is an opportunity to reshift focus on the health outcomes that matter –too often health is done to people, not with people. And it’s an opportunity for the patient community to claim its space once and for all.
Amanda Bok, Chief Partnership Officer, The Synergist
- How clinical communication facilitates empowerment?
- Benefits of effective communication
- Barriers to effective communication
- Examples of empowering communication strategies
Steve Clark, Founder and Patient Advocate, Strive for Five
- This topic will cover the work that we have done as a charity to raise the profile of experiences of women being diagnosed with gynae cancer and
- How using patient voices influence change within the NHS
Lowri Griffiths, Director of Support, Policy & Insight, Tenovus Cancer Care
(This session has been fully funded and developed by Novo Nordisk)
- The importance of a patient engagement strategy
- Why embedding patient engagement principles across a whole organisation is essential
- How will the pharmaceutical industry know if it is truly patient centric
Catherine Brant, Advocacy and Engagement Lead, Novo Nordisk UK
- Introduction and historical context
- AI’s current applications in healthcare
- Legal and ethical considerations
- Challenges to AI integration
- Future trends in AI implementation within healthcare.
RESERVED
COLLABORATION & SHARED DECISION-MAKING
Jennifer Costello, Executive Director, Global Patient Outreach (GPO), Bristol Myers Squibb
- The purpose of this presentation is to showcase the significant impacts of patient involvement in various Real-World Evidence (RWE) studies conducted at Servier. By engaging different patient advisory boards, we have enhanced our protocol designs, gained a deeper understanding of the burden of disease for patients with severe conditions, and identified barriers to better adherence, ultimately improving the continuum of care. research within the pharmaceutical industry setting
Delphine Nicolas, Director, Patient Engagement & Advocacy, Servier Pharmaceuticals
- Why behavior in the real-world matters
- Barriers to diverse participation are multifactorial
- How to support enrollment in clinical trials for patients benefit
Sylvie Coumel, Global Behavioral Science Lead, Sanofi
This session explores collaboration with leading national patient advocacy organizations on health equity work in collaboration with community based organizations.
- Understand work with the ADA in Birmingham, highlighting collaborative efforts to address patient access issues from screening to specialty care.
- Explore the initiatives undertaken with NMSS to tackle neurology desert areas, ensuring access to quality care and support for individuals affected by Multiple Sclerosis.
- Learn about the collaborative work with ACS to advance cancer health equity, aiming to reduce disparities in cancer prevention, treatment, policy and support services.
Sonali Chopra, Executive Director, Patient Advocacy Relations, GENENTECH
To follow shortly
Lindsay Randall, Founder, CEO, Mother, Arthur’s Quest / SLC6A1 Connect UK
- Fundamental aspects of patient advocacy, including its definition and core concepts
- How advocacy serves as a vital link between patients and healthcare providers
- Practical strategies for effective patient advocacy
- Real-world case studies and exploring emerging trends shaping the future of patient advocacy
Moderator:
Emma Sutcliffe, Founder, ISPEP
Panelists:
Delphine Nicolas, Director, Patient Engagement & Advocacy, Servier Pharmaceuticals
Beverly Lui, Head, Patient Advocacy and Engagement International Region, Apellis
Lopa Ghosh, Senior Advisor, Policy & Communications, Global Health Advocacy Incubator
Geoff Rollason, Patient Advocate, former Patient Experience and Service Lead, Pfizer UKJennifer Costello, Executive Director, Global Patient Outreach (GPO), Bristol Myers Squibb
Emma Sutcliffe, Founder, ISPEP
Jennifer Costello, Executive Director, Global Patient Outreach (GPO), Bristol Myers Squib
