Agenda - Day 2
Patient Engagement Solutions & Innovations World Congress 2026 Europe
Transforming Care Through Technology, Empathy, and Collaboration.
London, United Kingdom
Day 2 - Friday 27th March 2026
ENSURING EQUITY, TRUST & ACCESSIBILITY IN ENGAGEMENT INNOVATION
- What specific design principles can be implemented to ensure that digital health platforms and tools are truly inclusive and cater to a diverse user base?
- Methods to address barriers like varying digital literacy, language differences, and cultural nuances.
- Partnership opportunities with community organizations, non-profits, and local leaders to expand access in underrepresented populations.
- Methodologies and metrics for evaluating engagement programs to ensure equitable outcomes and reduce health disparities.
Moderator:
Panellists:
- Highlight how stigma, judgement and blame in conditions such as COPD, asthma, transplant, and neonatology create barriers to care, delay diagnosis and worsen health outcomes.
- Using insights from the Chiesi Look Beyond the Bias campaign and real patient stories demonstrating- the consequences of bias seen in continued deprioritisation within UK healthcare systems and policy structure- the human impact of bias and the risk of silence.
Harriet Lewis, Senior Director, Public Affairs & Communications, Chiesi UK
- How MSIF adapts and translates global resources through the MS Resource Hub to close topic and language gaps.
- How global datasets, including the Atlas of MS and new evidence on diagnosis, guide advocacy for early and accurate diagnosis.
- How mentoring, small grants, and shared case studies strengthen emerging MS organisations in Latin America, Africa, and the MENA region.
- Design principles that support inclusion: co-creation, clear language, multilingual materials, and formats that work in low-bandwidth settings.
Dr. Lydia E Makaroff, Chief Executive, Multiple Sclerosis International Federation
- Discussion points to follow
John Rayner, Senior Director, EMEA Region, HIMSS
PATIENT ENGAGEMENT SOLUTIONS IN CLINICAL TRIALS
- How can engagement be redefined as a strategic driver of recruitment and retention in healthcare and pharma?
- What digital and cultural innovations most effectively sustain workforce wellbeing and motivation?
- How can leadership and employee experience be aligned to mission and patient impact?
- What practical strategies bridge the gap between employee voice, inclusion, and operational excellence?
- What role do AI chatbots or virtual assistants play in improving patient communication and adherence?
- How can remote monitoring and decentralized trial platforms balance convenience with data accuracy and compliance?
- How might continuous feedback loops between patients and researchers transform protocol design and responsiveness?
- Which metrics best capture meaningful engagement in clinical research?
- How can participant-reported outcomes (PROs) be used to refine study protocols and improve real-world relevance?
- How does strong patient engagement contribute to faster approvals and more reliable study results?
- How can sponsors and CROs demonstrate the ROI of patient engagement initiatives in trials?
Keith Berelowitz, Founder/CEO, pRxEngage Inc
ENHANCING COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION
- How can digital platforms improve clarity and timeliness in provider–patient communication?
- What strategies can ensure that technology enhances human empathy in care interactions?
- How can clinicians be effectively trained to use digital communication tools while maintaining a personal connection with patients?
- What role does real-time data sharing play in empowering patients to take a more active role in their healthcare decision-making?
Lara Bloom, President and CEO, The Ehlers-Danlos Society
- What we built & why: A short, plain‐language animation shown alongside the paper informed consent to help potential participants and their families grasp study aims, treatments, visits, and procedures.
- Who shaped it: Developed in partnership with a patient panel; aligned with global trial teams to keep clinical accuracy while maximising accessibility.
- The 2‐year reality: Navigating ethics & legal review, procurement, hosting/IT security, and site enablement.
- Early signals: Positive investigational site feedback; participant feedback being collected; Adapting the asset for other regions.
- Equity lens: Designed to address health literacy needs and participation disparities in prostate cancer.
- Call to industry: A practical blueprint to scale; shared storyboard modules, governance templates, hosting standards, and pooled translation models, so multimedia consent becomes routine, not bespoke.
Marie Pullen, Associate Director, Clinical Operations, MSD (UK)
Gillian Thwaites, Associate Director, Clinical Operations, MSD (UK)
- The Adherence Reality: The psychological root causes of churn (denial/avoidance) often missed by UX teams.
- The “First Mile”: How to replace overwhelming onboarding with “Cognitive Pacing” to fix early retention.
- The Empathy Gap: Pinpointing exactly where digital logic fails and human intervention is non-negotiable.
- Practical Toolkit: A diagnostic framework to immediately audit and fix your patient onboarding flow.
Anny Goldman, Global Digital Patient Services Lead, Takeda, Lecturer, Ben-Gurion University
- How can healthcare organizations, Pharma and technology vendors align with HIPAA, GDPR, and other global privacy regulations while fostering innovation?
- Most effective methods for communicating data usage and obtaining informed patient consent in digital health.
- How can we ensure AI-driven recommendations and decision-support systems are transparent, unbiased, and ethical?
- Trends that will shape engagement leadership in the coming decade.
- Evolving role of pharmaceutical and healthcare companies in a data-literate patient environment.
- Emerging technologies that will create a competitive advantage.
- How we can maintain a human-centered approach to engagement?
Panellist:
Lara Bloom, President and CEO, The Ehlers-Danlos Society
