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In this episode of Patient to Purpose Erica & Stefan welcome Michaela Bedard, Global Head of Advocacy at Organon, for a conversation about women’s health, advocacy, innovation, and the power of culture change.

The conversation tackles some of healthcare’s biggest challenges: ensuring women are represented in clinical research, addressing persistent health inequities, improving access to care, combating misinformation, and empowering the next generation to become advocates for themselves and others.

Michaela reminds us that progress doesn’t happen by accident—it happens when we keep talking, keep pushing, and refuse to leave lived experience out of the conversation.

Resources:

• Society for Women’s Health Research
• Women’s Health Advocates
• United Nations Population Fund
• Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
• Power To Decide

#PatientToPurposePodcast #WomensHealth #PatientAdvocacy #HealthcareInnovation #HealthEquity

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If you appreciate what you hear, please smash those like and follow buttons, subscribe to the show on your favorite listening app, and feel free to share.

What happens to healthcare when political shifts reshape how countries fund, deliver, and access care?

In this episode of Patient to Purpose, Erica & Stefan discuss recent elections and political trends in Germany and consider what they could mean for healthcare. From workforce and immigration to hospital funding, access to care, and the potential expansion of privatization. We also compare and contracts with the U.S. and why healthcare policy is ultimately inseparable from the communities it serves.

A conversation about elections, healthcare systems, and what happens when political change reaches the public.

Resource: Voting in Germany

#PatientToPurpose #Healthcare #HealthPolicy #HealthcareAccess #PatientAdvocacy #Vote

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In this episode Erica & Stefan welcome Jennifer Cain Birkmose, a global healthcare leader whose career spans patient advocacy, rare disease, pharmaceutical development, health systems design, and community-based care.

Together, we explore what it truly means to put patients at the center of healthcare, and why simply saying “patient-centric” isn’t enough. Jennifer shares how ethnographic research and deep patient engagement can transform clinical trial design, improve access to medicines, and lead to better health outcomes.

The conversation dives into the persistent challenges facing healthcare today: delayed diagnoses, barriers to access, siloed decision-making, and the disconnect between what patient’s need and what healthcare systems often deliver. The trio examines how incentives shape healthcare, why patient voices must be embedded at every critical decision point, and how emerging technologies like AI can either perpetuate existing biases or help create more equitable solutions.

From rare disease innovation to women’s health, payer perspectives, and the enduring power of grassroots advocacy, this episode is a compelling reminder that meaningful change begins when patients are not merely consulted, but become true partners in designing the future of healthcare.

#PatientToPurpose #PatientCenteredCare #HealthcareInnovation #PatientAdvocacy #RareDiseaseAdvocacy