Samuel Blackman, M.D, is a mission-driven physician-scientist, peditric hematologist-oncologist, and seasoned biotechnology executive, focused intensely on the pre-clinical and clinical development of new therapeutics for children with cancer. He has had a 13+ year history in oncology clinical development, prior to founding Day One, and has held roles ranging from large global pharmaceutical companies (Merck, GlaxoSmithKline) to small venture-backed startups (Mavupharma, Silverback). Dr Blackman drove and oversaw the development of novel cancer therapeutics in pediatric and adult oncology and has deep experience in small molecule targeted therapies, antibody-drug conjugates, CAR-T cells, and novel immunooncology agents.

It is crucial for those leading patient advocacy to effectively communicate value and mission alignment enterprise-wide. Discover tips for strategic, good messaging that positions advocacy as an equal player and understand what matters to the business

• Tell your story to inform resourcing including time, talent and money
• Differentiate your message for the CSuite and cross-functional business unit heads
• Align with what matters to the business, push for innovation and differentiate your program year over year
• Prepare your 5 minute elevator pitch to demonstrate the value of patient advocacy

As companies have expanded initiatives in patient engagement and sharing patient insights enterprise-wide, there is a growing need for collaboration among advocacy and corporate affairs and communications executives.

• How patient advocacy can amplify the work of corporate affairs
• Drill down on how to be a more visible and complimentary cross-functional partner
• Working together on budgeting and prioritizing
• Deliver on mutual goals - Build in metrics to cross functional collaboration
• Define roles and responsibility for patient facing functions

By embedding patient perspectives into all forms of data dissemination, we can ensure that research findings are accessible, relevant, and impactful for the communities they serve. This case study highlights a structured approach to co- creating publications, plain language summaries, and visual storytelling tools with patient communities.

• Breaking down silos – Cross-functional collaboration (advocacy, medical, legal, compliance) to define roles, approvals, and workflows.
• Co-creating solutions – Patient Insights Advisory Panel designed a patient- inclusive process.
• Removing barriers – Developed plain language agreements and NDAs for patients and caregivers.
• Fair compensation – Landscape patient compensation analysis
• Sustaining impact – Standardized metrics to track engagement, reach, and decision-making influence.

Collin Henderson is an author and mental performance coach with a deep passion for learning and teaching the power of the mind, establishing winning habits, and creating a championship culture. He is also the Director of Mental Conditioning with UCLA Women’s Basketball. He provides mindset training on tools to stretch one’s comfort zone, strategies to fail forward, and growth mindset and grit application.

Patient advocacy is no longer a “nice-to-have”—it’s a strategic imperative. As patient advocacy functions are called to do more with less, it’s critical to show—not just say—how our work drives both patient outcomes and business results. This session spotlights how advocacy leaders can measure impact, translate SDOH action into enterprise value, and speak the language of the business without losing sight of the patient.

• Translate feedback into fuel: See how insights from advocacy and patient leaders can be used to track industry gaps in health equity, spotlight success stories, and guide resource allocation
• Define what “Good” looks like: Leverage ELAVAY and BIOADVOCATE benchmarks to set performance standards across staffing, budget, organizational alignment, and cross-functional integration
• Build a business case for advocacy: Learn how to connect advocacy work to commercial and regulatory success by showing impact on trial design, patient retention, and healthcare access

Determine methods for meeting patients where they are and targeting unmet patient needs..

• Explore examples for local/community collaborations powered by relationships with national patient advocacy organizations
• Identify innovative ways to work with professional societies
• Collaborate with national partners to support local communities
• Consider the specific state to state policies which benefit the communities you are working in
• Work effectively with multiple patient advocacy organizations and umbrellas

In an era of increasing complexity in healthcare and rising expectations from regulatory bodies and Health Technology Assessment agencies, traditional patient advocacy models need to evolve. Novel integration approaches reimagine patient advocacy as a core component of organizational culture and clinical development. By highlighting the skills and structural changes necessary to meet emerging patient engagement requirements worldwide, we can offer strategies to align advocacy with the new realities of regulatory compliance, accelerated research cycles, and genuine patient-partnered culture transformation.

• Redefine Patient Advocacy as a critical function that drives organizational mission and culture.
• Unify local advocacy efforts within a cohesive global framework through utilizing best practices
• Develop proactive approaches to incorporate patient perspectives and outcomes data to satisfy evolving standards

Bridging the gap between HEOR, market access, and advocacy is essential to ensuring patient needs are reflected in payer decisions.

• Know how value stories are communicated effectively to payers
• Understand strategic evidence generation for market access
• Aligning HEOR efforts with advocacy initiatives
• Importance of HEOR in value demonstration

See how AI is transforming patient advocacy by improving engagement and streamlining communications including lay summaries.

• How pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies are leveraging AI— and the ethical considerations that come with its use
• Practical applications of AI to support and deepen patient engagement
• Ways AI can empower your career development and job search in the patient advocacy field