8th PATIENT CENTRICITY & COLLABORATION WORLD CONGRESS 2026 EUROPE
Amplifying Patients Voice in Research, Drug Development and Healthcare
Copthorne Tara Hotel London Kensington, London, United Kingdom
Tuesday 25th - Wednesday 26th February 2026
Facilitate Live is very pleased to welcome you to our upcoming Patient Centricity and Collaboration World Congress 2026 Europe.
The two-day Congress aims to build meaningful collaborations within the industry, advocacy groups, clinicians, researchers, and most importantly, patients and their caregivers. Gain practical strategies and best practices on challenges, innovations, technologies, and concepts in achieving this goal.
The congress focuses on “Amplifying Patients Voice in Research, Drug Development and Healthcare“.
Patient-centricity is a vital aspect in the research and development of biopharmaceutical products, disease management, designing a treatment, clinical trial, or other health solutions. In order to create a patient-centric solution, one must truly embrace a collaborative endeavor with the patient and their caregivers. Establishing a patient-centric solution involves getting feedback from real patients and their loved ones, and making decisions based on their medical conditions, experiences, needs, perspectives, and priorities.
In the current climate where the patients are increasingly becoming more empowered, Lifesciences and Pharmaceutical companies should confront the status quo and welcome the opportunities to embrace a wide range of patient-centered perspectives presented by an emerging ecosystem. While the technology-driven world poses challenges, it also holds opportunities to build a positive patient experience by coordinating the health ecosystem to center on the patient. Reevaluating how it develops and delivers drugs to improve experiences and outcomes and also to continuously adapt and transform to meet the evolving needs of patients.
The industry has come a long way with utilizing a patient-centered approach. The concept has gone from a buzzword to a potential trend, to a perceivable goal.
Whilst the industry has advanced in recent years, the evolving healthcare model and ecosystem brought forward by advances in technology and more involved, empowered patients, means true patient centricity is a continuing quest and a compelling commitment.
We look forward to meeting you at the Congress!
Sincerely yours,
Jocelyn Raguindin
Conference Director
Paradigm Global Events / Facilitate Live
GAIN LATEST INSIGHTS ON:
- What does patient centricity mean for the pharmaceutical and life science industry?
- Why does the industry need to be a part of the patient-centric movement?
- Patient-centric initiatives that have a tremendous impact
- Successful strategies and best practices to successfully manage patient-centricity in healthcare
- How to develop and execute a strategy to improve patient engagement?
- Benefits of patient engagement in drug development and discovery process
- Evolving challenges and key considerations in the ethical and compliant use of relevant data
- The potential value of providing access to relevant data to all stakeholders
- How to maintain mutually beneficial ongoing partnerships between the patients and industry?
- Overcoming myriad challenges to make the clinical trial and drug development process more patient-centred or patient-focused
- Setting the pace and expectations thru collaborations
- Role of researchers in bridging the communication gap between life science industry and the patient it serves
- How to achieve a deeper understanding of the patient experience in the real world.
- Practical ways in putting the patient at the centre of a powerful brand
Co-located with the Decentralized & Hybrid Trials 2026 Europe
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
This Congress is beneficial to pharmaceutical, biotech companies, researchers, physicians, patient advocacy groups, regulatory agencies, technology and healthcare companies.
Network with Presidents, Heads/Chiefs, VPs, Directors, and Leaders in the area of:
- Patient Engagement
- Patient Services
- Engagement Strategy
- R&D Patient Engagement
- Medical Affairs
- Commercialisation
- Marketing
- Regulatory Affairs and Policy
- Patient Support
- RWE, and Data Management
- Quality and Compliance
- Clinical Development and Operations
- Programme Management
- Supply Chain Management
- Patient Access
- Clinical Research
- Digital Accelerator
- Patient Engagement & Portfolio Strategy
- Patient Support
- Strategy & Insights
- Patient Experience
- Global Patient Advocacy & Alliances
- Government Policy and Advocacy
- Digital Patient Experience Lead
- Clinical Insights and Experience
- Head of Strategy, Access Services
- Site Collaborations and Patient Centricity
Emma Sutcliffe, Founder, International Society of Patient Engagement Professionals (ISPEP)
TRENDS & STRATEGIES IN INTEGRATING PATIENT VOICE
- The value of engaging and communicating with the patient in every part of the clinical research process
- Examining the right approach for patient and industry to positively impact healthcare costs and patient outcomes through patient engagement
- How can patient expertise create significant value to the industry?
- What are the best practices and strategies to guarantee that patient centricity is at the forefront of pharma?
Moderator:
Emma Sutcliffe, Founder, International Society of Patient Engagement Professionals (ISPEP)
Panelists:
Rebecca Lisle, Head of Patient Advocacy, EU and International, Jazz Pharmaceuticals
Heidi Müller, Head of Patient Advocacy, Galapagos
Steve Clark, Founder and Patient Advocate, Strive for Five
Diana Heimberg, Patient Expert, The Bloc
- The era of evidence-based engagement leads to a new type of patient science
- Patient Engagement is a highly developed skill set and an established discipline
- ISPEP comprises patient engagement professionals of the highest integrity
- At ISPEP, members are ‘all in’ and committed to change leadership
Emma Sutcliffe, Founder, International Society of Patient Engagement Professionals (ISPEP)
- A Bandana and a Bluebird – the critical role of caring for people in healthcare
- How to effectively partner for patient-focused medicines design, development and delivery [internally and externally]
- Operational elements required to implement Patient Centricity successfully in organizations
- Cultural elements required to implement Patient Centricity successfully in organizations
Dr. Anthony Yanni, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Patient Centricity, Astellas Pharma
- Systematic PE and Advocacy is in evolution
- Stakeholders in the HC system are accelerating efforts to involve patients
- Similarly Industry is looking for acceleration of PE
- Case study of NVS on the evolution
Focused approach on PE and Advocacy in a new model - Key areas of PE in Deve to drive impact
- Early successes (examples from a few disease areas)
Michaela Dinboeck, Head Patient Engagement, Novartis Pharma
- How to improve preclinical and clinical research through patient integration
- The importance of patient integration in healthcare to advance outcomes
- Why the time is now to incorporate patient integration into medical education for HCPs
Victoria Harvey-Jones, Clinical Strategist (Oncology) & Worldwide Patient Integration Lead, Medscape Education Global
Rachel Grimley, Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery, Cancer Research Horizons
Kevin Fernando, General Practitioner – Partner, North Berwick Health Centre
- Learn about the latest technologies that can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of clinical trial design, addressing issues like increasing complexity
- Discover the principles and best practices for clinical trial design that can increase the likelihood of success, through a combination of literature analysis and practical experience
- Examine the challenges faced by patients during clinical trials and learn about potential solutions that can reduce the burden and increase the benefits for patients
- The value of patient collaboration
- Best practice for engaging patients
- Case Study: Patient Integrated Design in Action
Mark Doyle, Founder, A Life in a Day
A short exercise, exploring how even the most technical science can fire up public imagination.
- Finding the heroes
- Mapping the quest
- Telling the story
- Inspiring action
Tim Gomersall, Managing Director, GIG Health
Afternoon Stream Sessions
ACCESS & COLLABORATIONS
- Industry often has many deep relationships across TAs and expertise within the advocacy community and with various experts on topics within patient centricity
- Bringing these groups together along with subject matter experts on topics critical and relevant to the community is very valuable in helping to initiate partnerships and sharing of best practices that can benefit the community and elevate patient centricity
- The utilization of workshops and having defined outputs as a part of the convening helps the community take the learnings into their everyday advocacy work
Janelle A. Goins, Sr. Director, Global Community
Engagement & Advocacy, Gilead Sciences, Inc
- Case studies showcasing successful partnerships between healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, and patient advocacy groups.
- Strategies for empowering communities through education, training and support networks to increase active participation in decision making
- Innovative approaches that facilitate patient engagement and enhance collaboration among stakeholders.
Dr. Andreas L.G. Reimann, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, admedicum GmbH & Co KG and
Partners4Patients Foundation
- Have patient “Advisors” on a panel for clinical trials.
- Have a patient advocate/liaison collaborating.
- Patient Surveys
Dakar De La Cruz, Director, Global Patient Insights & Solutions, Alexion Pharmaceuticals
- Emphasize the need for patient voices in drug development and healthcare delivery.
- Explore the Role of Patient Experience Data (PED)
and discuss how effective Patient Engagement (PE) informs PED and aligns healthcare decisions with patient needs. - Introduce key tools for Patient-Centric Initiatives
- Share strategies and provide practical approaches for integrating patient engagement into the generation and use of PED
- Foster Collaborative Partnerships
- Offer takeaways that attendees can implement to enhance patient engagement in their organizations.
Hayley Chapman, Senior Program Director, PFMD
- Diagnosis and Uncertainty: Who Else Feels Like Me?
- The Power of Online Communities
- Communities, Pharma Companies, and Patient Associations: A Shared Mission
- IN.PAZIENTI Bridges the Gap
Gaia Presotto, Project Manager, Trainer Patient
Expert
Diana Heimberg, Patient Expert, The Bloc
Carole Scrafton, Director & Co-Founder, Flutters and
Strutters
- Disparities in pain research and care persist with respect to gender and sex but also regarding racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups.
- The pharmaceutical industry can play a critical role to addressing the needs of diverse patient populations in research and providing medicines and services for all individuals.
- Grünenthal is aiming to improve equity in pain research and care to ensure that all people have access to effective treatments thereby improving health outcomes for everyone.
- We will evaluate and discuss how all stakeholders can work together to achieve this goal.
Gudula Petersen, Global Patient Engagement Lead, Grunenthal
Neil Betteridge, Senior Director, Europe, Global Alliance For Patient Access
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
- What we know
- What we should know
- What we should do ?
Pascal Derrien, Chief Executive Officer, Migraine
Ireland
- Receiving a life changing diagnosis
- How DHDDS mutations affect individuals
- Creating a research community
- Overcoming barriers
- Our plans and hopes from the future
Melanie Dixon, Trustee, Cure DHDDS
- Psychology frameworks to uncover attributes and variations in patient behaviour
- Key barriers and enablers patient behaviour within trial engagement using psychological analysis
- Recommendation for enhancing engagement in trials using behaviour change methods
Dr Sumira Riaz, Chartered Health Psychologist and
Patient Engagement Consultant, Unboxed
Psychology
- Patients and caregivers know best when it means improving the quality of life.
- Reality is much different than theory.
- Benefits of real-world experience inserted in basic science equals endpoints and outcomes that can be overlooked as unimportant.
- Why clinical trials are struggling with patient recruitment, diversity in the trial participant population and retention of the clinical trial participants and how all of these problems are linked to the overall system which clinical trials are formed around.
- Possible solutions on how to fix these problems and move forward to improve clinical trials and drug development all together.
Rasmus Hjorth, Head of Communication, James Lind
Care
- Across the spectrum of disease, from common to rare, patient data is becoming a critical driver of drug discovery, development, diagnosis, commercialization and inclusive and equitable access to trials and treatments.
Robert Mitchell-Thain, Chief Executive Officer, PBC
Foundation
- To Follow
Bob Stevens, Group CEO, MPS.SOCIETY
6:15 - 7:15 pm - NETWORKING DRINK RECEPTION
Co-Chair:
Gunnar Schroefel, Senior Director Global Patient Advocacy, Daiichi Sankyo
Co-Chair:
Robert Mitchell-Thain, Chief Executive Officer, PBC Foundation
CHALLENGES & POTENTIALS OF PATIENT ENGAGEMENT
- Why diversity and inclusion in clinical trials are crucial?
- Understanding critical barriers to minority and underserved patient communities participation in clinical trials
- Equity and Inclusion of Rare Disease Patients – A Must on Many Levels
- What can the industry do to promote more diversity in the future?
- Latest guidelines that make healthcare more inclusive
Moderator:
Gunnar Schroefel, Senior Director Global Patient Advocacy, Daiichi Sankyo
Panelists:
Ify Osunkwo, Chief Patient Officer, Novo Nordisk Rare Disease
Naomi Litchfield, Director, Patient Advocacy, Bionical Emas
Dr Sondra Butterworth CEO & Founder, RareQoL and EDIRA
Amy Yarker, Senior Business Development Manager, NIHR Research
Nikul Bakshi, Research Involvement Lead, Parkinson’s UK
- Why drive internal culture of patient centricity
- Creating a fertile internal environment
- Identifying internal champions
- What next? How NN rare D has operationalized patient centricity internally
Ify Osunkwo, Chief Patient Officer, Novo Nordisk Rare Disease
- What does patient centricity mean for the pharmaceutical and life science industry?
- Why does the industry need to be a part of the patient-centric movement?
- Patient-centric initiatives that have a tremendous impact – case study
- Successful strategies and best practices to successfully manage patient-centricity in with description of frameworks to operationalize patient centric work
- How to maintain mutually beneficial ongoing partnerships between the patients and industry?
Wendy Erler, VP, Global Head Patient Experience, Advocacy and Insights, AstraZeneca
The implementation of patient engagement is by no means uniform, varying massively between different contexts and organisations. This talk will:
- Reveal some intriguing mechanisms driving human behaviour
- Challenge the efficacy of a ‘fuel-based’ mindset
- Uncover the impact of frictions in impeding progress
- Show how the COM-B model can be utilised to diagnose difficulties and design targeted interventions to overcome them
Dr Liz Clark, Visiting Lecturer & Patient Engagement Theme Lead, King’s College London
- Discuss current challenges blocking effective Patient Engagement
- Putting the patient first achieves the best experience and outcome for that person and their family
- Digital patient engagement tools and personalized care models to enhance healthcare experiences and outcomes.
Lara Bloom, President and CEO, The Ehlers-Danlos Society
- X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH) is one of appr. 8,000 rare diseases, it affects those living with XLH and their families in multiple ways
- Access to adequate care for people living with rare diseases is very often more limited than for other patient communities
- The support program “XLHCare” aims to support children, adolescents and adults with XLH in terms of therapy application and adherence
- More than five years of practical experience with XLH Care have proven the multi-faceted benefits of the program
Dr. Holger Storcks, Public Affairs and Patient Advocacy Director DACH, Kyowa Kirin GmbH
Christiane Sonntag, Patient Services Manager, Kyowa Kirin GmbH
- The Octopus approach: delivering coordinated, informed patient-centric decisions across the business.
- Understanding which parts of the organisation collaborate with Patient Advocacy Groups & how information flows between them.
- Benchmarking organisational patient-centricity: using patient advocacy maturity models to show where, and how, to achieve best practice.
- Everyone is part of patient success: the role of leadership & internal comms in galvanising patient-centric thinking
Mark Hanson, Co-Founder, Delta Consulting
Bianca Swalem, Co-Founder, Delta Consulting
- Experienced patient advocates are invaluable on steering groups and strategic advisory boards, often bringing a wealth of personal and community experience and knowledge. But can they really remember what it is like to be sat in a clinic, with a new diagnosis, and be handed a study information sheet immediately after having been told about standard of care treatment for the first time?
- When companies rely on input from patients who are highly knowledgeable and experienced in research, their protocols and participant-facing materials are likely missing out on receiving feedback from the very people they most want to reach once sites open to recruitment.
- Hearing from research unaware and/or hesitant patients is as valuable as working alongside patient advocates and experts, to ensure that viewpoints and feedback from the widest possible patient population is incorporated into study design, monitoring and delivery.
- In this session you we will share how to find and build trusting relationships with people who do not necessarily put themselves forwards for research engagement activities, and where and how they can add the most value in study development.
Emily Pickering, Patient Engagement in Clinical Development Service Lead, NIHR Research
- The session will share with delegates how the ABPI developed a PPI strategy
- The learning and insight gathered from the first 3 years
- The results and impact
- The next phase of PPI
Amit Aggarwal, Executive Director Medical Affairs & Strategic Partnerships, ABPI
- Challenges in implementing principles of good practice
- Pragmatic approaches to inclusivity and representation
Josie Godfrey, Co-Founder and CEO, Realise Advocacy
Lindsay Birrell, Co-CEO, Realise Advocacy
- What are the challenges and opportunities PAG boards encounter with Pharma?
- Has the engagement landscape worsened or improved in recent years?
- What solutions are they working towards?
- What do they cite as best practice?
Nigel Nicholls, General Manager UK/Nordics & Baltics, Egetis Therapeutics AB
- Highlight the Impact of Patient Engagement
- Analyze Key Trends in the PE-Sustainability Landscape
- Showcase Roche’s Leadership in integrating Patient Engagement in Sustainability Strategies
Samantha Knott, Global Patient Partnership Leader, Roche
Hayley Chapman, Senior Program Director, PFMD
- Recognising key areas to ensure patients’ experiences, perspectives, needs, and priorities are captured and meaningfully incorporated into drug development and evaluation.
- Patient’s input to improve quality, relevance, safety and efficacy of drug development
- Challenges and opportunities for patient-centric product design
- The role of respective stakeholders and the way they interact, from the early steps of drug development to access in real life?
Moderator:
Dawn Lobban, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Amica Scientific.
Panelist:
Barbara Valastro, Ph.D. Head of R&D Patient Science, AstraZeneca
Dr Andreas L.G. Reimann, Managing Partner, Co-founder, admedicum GmbH & Co KG
Nikul Bakshi, Research Involvement Lead, Parkinson’s UK
Dr Oleksandr Gorbenko, Global Patient Affairs Director, Ipsen
- Understanding the drivers for innovation in pharma
- Partnering with patients and placing patient well-being at the core of all initiatives
- Real-world data and patient-reported outcomes presents the power and the potential to redesign healthcare
- Innovative approaches for direct-to-patient assume significant importance for driving patient-centricity
- Technologies that enhance the patient-centricity in pharma
Moderator:
Ines Teixeira Gonçalves, Head of Patient Engagement and Advocacy, Therakos
Panellist:
Glenn Darley, Patient Engagement Lead, EMEA, Recordati Rare Disease
Kayuri Odedra, Associate Director, Patient Advocacy UK & Ireland, Alexion
Lisbeth Sneed, President, PICC United
Co-Chair:
Gunnar Schroefel, Senior Director Global Patient Advocacy, Daiichi Sankyo
Co-Chair:
Robert Mitchell-Thain, Chief Executive Officer, PBC Foundation
