8th PATIENT CENTRICITY & COLLABORATION WORLD CONGRESS 2026 EUROPE
A strategic approach prioritising the patient's needs, preferences, and values from drug development to treatment and beyond.
Millennium Hotel and Conference Centre Gloucester London
Day 2 - Thursday 26th February 2026
Stephen O’Farrell, Executive Director, Spectrum Science
CHALLENGES & POTENTIALS OF PATIENT ENGAGEMENT
- Fostering community engagement and build trust
- Designing a patient-centric, inclusive trials
- Cultivating an inclusive research environment
- Leveraging technology and data
- Adopting regulatory requirements and institutional support
Moderator:
Ify Osunkwo, Chief Patient Officer Rare Disease, Novo Nordisk Rare Disease
Panellists:
Emily Pickering, Patient Engagement in Clinical Development Service Lead, NIHR Research Delivery Network
Aurora Todisco, Health Equity & Community Engagement Lead, DHSC
Ron Hillel, Associate Director, Clinical Representativeness, Patient Engagement, Novartis
Emma Sutcliffe, Founder, ISPEP
Anthony Mason, Chief Executive Officer , Sickle Cell Care Manchester
- The WHY: diversity equity & inclusion, environmental social governance
- The WHAT: information & communication technologies (ICTs)
- The HOW: accessibility by design and shifting-left with universal design
Dr. Stephen Framil, Corporate Global Head of Accessibility, Merck & Co., INC
- Define “Diversity” in the context of EU and UK regulatory environment
- Provide information on the importance of assessing diversity based on disease area before study design and execution
- Share concrete examples of diversity in practice:
- MHRA analysis of community subgroups and their involvement in clinical trials.
- READI engagement with public’s representatives and why words matters: moving from diversity to
representativeness
Puja Myles, Director, Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), MHRA
Lea-Isabelle Proulx, Patient Voice Partner, Roche
- Why timing matters: Too early, too late, or just right?
- Striking the balance: Impact, ethics, and resources in tension
- Lessons learned so far: What real-world experience shows us
- Looking ahead: What needs to change for the future
Dr Liz Clark, Visiting Lecturer & Patient Engagement Theme Lead, King’s College London
- To Follow Shortly
Sumira Riaz, Patient Engagement/Health Psychologist Consultant, Founder, Unboxed Psychology
Glenn Darley, Patient Engagement & Advocacy Leader, Director, Rare Connections Consulting
- The importance of data democratization
- Common challenges in clinical data review that hinders clinical trials Strategies in overcoming these challenges
- How to seamlessly integrate data from a variety of sources?
- How to improve safety review efficiencies and reduce the timeline to critical studies?
Stephen O’Farrell, Executive Director, Spectrum Science
Federico Fagà, Global Head of Patient-Centered Outcomes and Advocacy, Chiesi Group
- Practical ways to turn behavioural evidence into implementable solutions that address real barriers and unmet needs
- Structured approaches for integrating behavioural models, user insights and digital ecosystems to design engagement that is relevant across key patient journey touchpoints.
- Real-world examples of translating behavioural diagnosis into service design, content and measurement maps, showing how programmes can improve outcomes and patient experience without adding operational complexity
Dr Debbie Cooke, Head of Health Psychology, Atlantis Health UK
- 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
Keith Berelowitz, Founder/CEO, pRxEngage Inc
- Why PED matters now: Rising expectations from regulators, HTA bodies, clinicians, and communities to incorporate real experiences and outcomes into evidence generation and decision-making.
- From insight to impact: How PED is informing research priorities, clinical development strategies, regulatory dialogues, and value and access considerations.
- Real-world integration: Practical examples of how healthcare systems, organisations, and partners are embedding PED into ongoing learning cycles, care pathways, and everyday decision-making.
- A person-centred future: What it will take for healthcare stakeholders to consistently prioritise people’s needs, preferences, and values—from development to treatment and beyond—and how PED can anchor this strategic shift.
Hayley Chapman, Senior Program Director, The Synergist
- Jasmine will share how BMS’s Global Purpose & Patient Experience team is embedding patient voices, carers’ insights, and community trust into every phase of development and delivery of its medicines
- Drawing from her background in nonprofit advocacy and her leadership at BMS, she’ll explore how trust building enables innovation and advances both mission and purpose
- She will spotlight tangible enterprise tools, like BMS’s Universal Patient Language (UPL) and PEER programs, that translate empathy into access, and communication into clarity.
- The talk will include lessons learned from carers, medically underserved communities, and patient collaborators who have reshaped how BMS designs, speaks, and shows up.
- Jasmine will offer a human-centric lens on trial transformation, showing how purpose-driven decisions accelerate recruitment, improve retention, and deepen real-world impact.
Jasmine Greenamyer, VP, Global Purpose & Patient Experience, Corporate Affairs, Bristol Myers Squibb
- Timing Multistakeholder Collaboration Across the Innovation Lifecycle
- How Collaboration Works: Mechanisms, Models, and Mindsets That Enable Success
- What Good Looks Like: Defining Meaningful Patient Engagement in Multistakeholder Settings
- Breaking Silos: Aligning Diverse Stakeholder Priorities to Accelerate Impact
Federica Castiglione, Sr Director Patient Advocacy & Engagement EMEA, Menarini Stemline
- Leveraging patient input and real-world data to improve relevance, safety, and efficacy
- Designing patient-centric products: key challenges and opportunities
- Redefining stakeholder roles—from early development to real-world access
- Ensuring patient voices drive not only clinical trial design but also long-term treatment adherence and outcomes in diverse populations.
Moderator:
Dominic Shadbolt, Expert Patient, Founder, theMSguide.com
Panelists:
Mohammed Kofi Yasimo, Vice President, Hepatitis Foundation of Ghana
Gabor Purman, Patient Advocacy Director, Kyowa Kirin
- How can we move patient engagement from a checkbox to true co-creation and shared decision-making?
- In what ways does genuine patient engagement improve health outcomes and trust?
- What are the biggest barriers that prevent meaningful patient involvement?
- How can we effectively measure the impact of patient engagement beyond satisfaction surveys?
- Are we including diverse and underserved patient voices in our engagement efforts?
- How do we ensure patients are partners and collaborators, rather than just observers or token participants?
Moderator:
Emma Sutcliffe, Founder, ISPEP
Panellist:
Dr. Stephen Framil, Corporate Global Head of Accessibility, Merck & Co., INC
Zack Pemberton -Whiteley, Patient Advocacy Executive Director, Autolus
