Reflections from the ISPEP Regional Ambassadors July Meeting

Shilpa Vignesh Shenoy, ISPEP Ambassador for the APAC region

One of the most rewarding aspects of being an Asia-Pacific (APAC) Regional Ambassador for ISPEP is learning how patient engagement is evolving across different parts of the world.

Our recent Regional Ambassador meeting brought together perspectives from APAC, UK, the Middle East, and New Zealand. While every healthcare system faces unique challenges, it was encouraging to see that many of our aspirations are shared: creating more meaningful partnerships with patients and embedding the patient voice into healthcare decision-making.

Some of the key best practices that stood out from our discussion:

1. Embedding patient engagement into academia helps cultivate a culture of patient partnership from the very beginning of a healthcare professional's journey.

2. Patient engagement is a two-way partnership. Patients should be engaged as collaborators and co-creators, not just recipients of information.

3. Existing community networks can be leveraged to strengthen engagement, rather than building new structures from scratch.

4. Practical resources such as patient partnership templates and guidance for early access programs can help regions accelerate their patient engagement journey.

From the APAC perspective, I shared that while India has made significant progress through patient support programs, there remains a substantial opportunity to build stronger patient advocacy communities that empower patients through education, collaboration, and inclusion. Learning from global best practices while developing solutions tailored to local needs will be key to advancing patient engagement in our region.

A common theme across all regions was that we don't need to reinvent the wheel when you are member of ISPEP. By sharing successful models, tools, experiences, and evidence, we can collectively accelerate the maturity of patient engagement worldwide.

I am grateful to my fellow ambassadors Jon Hoggard, Naomi Litchfield and Ghada Ibrahim for such an insightful discussion. Looking forward to continuing these conversations and learning from each other as we work towards making healthcare more patient-centred, together.