TCA Young Advocate Attends Patient Summit USA 2018

The 15th Annual Patient Summit USA 2018 was recently hosted at Sonesta Philadelphia Downtown Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA.

Organized by eyeforpharma, the target audience for this medical event featured various executives from across the Pharmaceutical and Biotech industry, and is ideally suited for VPs, Heads, Directors and Managers involved with: Patient centricity, Advocacy, Patient experience, Patient engagement, Adherence, Access, Patient services, etc.

 

Teen Cancer America young advocate, Hannah Lottenberg, had a chance to attend this year’s conference and had this to report:

I arrived during one of the discussions and took my seat at a table. Scanning the room, I saw so many different kinds of people… There were pharma employees in suits and other survivors (like myself) just sitting, engaged in conversation, but listening. It truly felt everyone really cared about improving the lives of those who needed the care. It was fascinating to hear about people’s stories and products out there. Even though I was the youngest in the room, I felt connected to everyone else, despite the wide age differential. After I finished mingling and networking, I went around to each booth learning about available networks for cancer patients. It made me happy to perceive how technology was being used to better the lives of both cancer patients and survivors. 

During my roundtable, we had some interesting discussion. Needless to say, when you combine all three areas of interest (pharma companies, survivors, and employees working on patient centric resources) into one table, you’re bound to get things churning. What I found to be the most intriguing is that we all had plenty of problems to share, yet very little solutions. However, I think that everyone agreed on the points of representation for all types of people and transparency and education. I think that these are very tangible points of improvement. It was also refreshing to see that people are working towards creating unbiased resources for patients. I was very proud and satisfied with the roundtable; I just wish we had more time to flesh out resolutions and work together more.

In the end, I shared my journey and Teen Cancer America’s story with the people I met. Everyone I talked to agreed that we need pharma companies to be more transparent and helpful to patients. I was able to meet some really incredible people, including the founder of Stupid Cancer! I also met someone who works for the FDA and its drug regulations. I was honored to represent Teen Cancer America. It felt amazing that adults were willing to hear my story and explain to me what they are doing to help others like myself.