Patients as Partners® in Clinical Research Announces Keynote Lineup and Key Topics for the 10th Annual Meeting


We are thrilled to be presenting the 10th annual Patients as Partners conference, challenging and welcoming the pharma industry to engage patients and their input on developing therapeutics, enabling greater access to clinical trials and increasing diversity and inclusion, Kate Woda, Senior Director

The Conference Forum announced the launch of the 10th annual Patients as Partners® in Clinical Research Summit with the 2023 keynote lineup and key topics. The program now spans over three days, March 20-22, 2023, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC.

“We are thrilled to be presenting the 10th annual Patients as Partners conference, challenging and welcoming the pharma industry to engage patients and their input on developing therapeutics, enabling greater access to clinical trials, and increasing diversity and inclusion,” said Kate Woda, Senior Director.

The Patients as Partners 2023 keynotes include:

Mandy Gonzalez, “Hamilton,” “In The Heights” and “Wicked” Broadway Star, Author and Patient Advocate will open the conference by discussing how research gave her a “second act” in her incredible patient journey as a breast cancer survivor. She will also perform her debut solo, “Fearless.”

Anthony Yanni, MD, SVP and Global Head, Patient Centricity, Astellas Pharma, will speak to creating a foundational culture of patient centricity, instilling conscious awareness of the patient into everyday work practices throughout Astellas.

Kristina Allikmets, MD, PhD, SVP, Head of R&D, Plasma-Derived Therapies Business Unit, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, will address how Takeda embedded patient engagement within R&D to ensure that those medicines had meaningful impact for patients.

Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH, CEO, Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), will share how they are rebuilding a fresh approach to amplifying the patient’s voice across all of the FNIH’s programs to provide greater impact on both science and patient outcomes.

Six FDA agencies are confirmed to report on their guidelines to advance patient involvement in medicines.

The FDA agencies represented are: Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE); Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER); Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER); Digital Health Center of Excellence (DHCE); Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH); and Office of Clinical Policy and Programs (OCPP).

“When we first launched this conference, it was a two-day discussion that included all stakeholders. It is heartening and exciting to see that the R&D industry has come so far with patient involvement that we had to expand to three days for the number of case studies and patient perspectives,” said Valerie Bowling, Executive Director.

Key topics for 2023 include:


  • Diversity and inclusion
  • Early patient engagement
  • FDA regulatory updates
  • Operationalizing patient engagement
  • Patient engagement impact measures
  • DCTs, digital health and data return
  • Patient feedback

The 2023 co-chairs are: Emma Andrews, PharmD, VP, Global Patient Advocacy, Pfizer; Tina Aswani Omprakash, Patient Advocate; Karen Peterson, Patient Advocate; Luther T Clark, MD, FACC, FACP, Deputy Chief Patient Officer & Global Director, Scientific, Medical and Patient Perspective, Office of the Chief Patient Officer, Merck; Sabina Kineen, Patient Advocate; Clare Grace, PhD, Chief Patient Officer, Parexel International.

To learn more about the event, please visit patientsaspartners.org

About Patients as Partners US

Patients as Partners US is co-produced with patients, industry, academia, government and nonprofit organizations to establish a well-rounded program that addresses the needs of all stakeholders seeking to implement and advance patient involvement across the entire clinical development continuum.

About the Conference Forum

The Conference Forum is a life science industry research firm that develops conferences primarily around how to get therapeutics to patients faster. They examine and challenge the complex ecosystem of drug development and delivery, bringing ideas together from a variety of sources to help advance clinical research with common goals that are patient-focused.

They currently offer conferences for pharma/biotech professionals including R&D leaders, CEOs, business development/licensing, medical affairs/safety, chief patient officers/advocates, clinical innovation champions, investors and drug delivery specialists. The company also publishes six newsletters and produces PharmaTalkRadio and virtual events.

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