The Galien Foundation Hosts 2025 Patient Summit to Amplify the Patient Voice in Healthcare

- Patient Summit will run parallel with the annual Galien Forum on October 30, 2025, at the
Alexandria Center for Life Sciences in New York City

NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Galien Foundation, the premier global institution dedicated to honoring innovators in life sciences, today announced that the 2025 Inaugural Galien Patient Summit will take place on October 30, 2025. The Foundation also unveiled the full program schedule and roster of participants, which include advocacy groups, healthcare professionals, policymakers, and industry leaders. Under the principle "No decision for me without me," the Summit's mission is to empower patients as central partners in healthcare innovation by providing a platform where their voices, experiences, and needs help shape the future of medical research, drug development, and care delivery.

"It is a privilege to help accelerate the development of more effective treatments, advance patient outcomes, and enhance quality of life for individuals worldwide, reinforcing the Galien Foundation's commitment to scientific excellence in service of human health," said Bruno Cohen, Chairman of The Galien Foundation. "We are deeply grateful to this year's participants for their dedication to improving the lives of patients today and for generations to come."

The Galien Patient Summit will honor the legacy of Professor Elie Wiesel, Honorary Founding President of the Galien Foundation, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Holocaust survivor, who dedicated his life to education and human rights.

The Patient Summit schedule is as follows:

8:40 – 9:40am PANEL 1 Transforming Innovation into Patient Outcomes: Grounded in Community, Guided by Science

• Katie Mazuk – Chair, Chief Patient Experience Officer, Novartis US
• Uché Blackstock, MD – Founder and CEO Advancing Health Equity (AHE)
• Michael Hodin, PhD – CEO, Global Coalition on Aging, Managing Partner, High Lantern Group
• Molly Guthrie – VP, President, Policy & Advocacy, Susan G. Komen
• John M. O'Brien, PharmD, MPH – President and Chief Executive Officer, National Pharmaceutical Council

9:45 - 10:45am PANEL 2 Reimagining the Aging Patient: From Life span to Health span 

• Jeremy Abbate – Chair, Vice President & Publisher, Scientific American 
• Michael Clinton – Founder & CEO, ROAR Forward
• Patrick Kullenberg – Chief Innovation Officer, North America at L'Oréal Groupe
• David Luu – Founder, Longevity Docs
• Qian Zheng MD, PhD – Senior Vice President of Advanced Research, North America and Global Head of Regenerative Beauty at L'Oréal Groupe

10:50 – 11:50am PANEL 3 Beyond BMI: Precision Obesity Care

• Keri Hildick – Chair, Chief Strategy Officer at Perspectum
• Jaimie Almondoz MD, MBA, FTOS – Medical Director, Weight Wellness Program Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
• Rachel Batterham - Senior Vice President, International Medical Affairs, Eli Lilly and Company
• Manu Chakravarthy – Senior Vice President and Global Head of Cardiovascular, Renal, and Metabolism Product Development Roche-Genentech
• Sandra Elia – Chair of Obesity Matters Certified Food Addiction Counselor
• Priya Jaisinghani MD, DABOM – Clinical Assistant Professor, NYU Langone Health, Media Expert

12:20 – 12:40pm KEYNOTE Matthew Zachary, Founder, We The Patients

12:45 – 1:55pm PANEL 4 Patient Driven Research : Patients redesigning the R&D Pipeline

• Tania Simoncelli – Chair, Vice President, Translational Impact & Engagement, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
• Marianne Clancy, MPA – Chief Executive Officer and Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships, Cure HHT
• Michaela Dinboeck – Head of Patient Engagement, Novartis
• Sunitha Malepati – Founder & CEO of the Buffalo Initiative
• Amit Rakhit, MD, MBA - Chief Medical Officer BlueRock Therapeutics
• Josh Sommer – Co-Founder & Executive Director, Chordoma Foundation

2:00 – 3:00pm PANEL 5 From Promise to Practice: Navigating AI's Potential in Enhancing Patient-Centered Care

• Eric Horvitz MD, PhD – Chair, Chief Scientific Officer of Microsoft
• Grace Cordovano, PhD, BCPA – Founder, Enlightening Results Co-Founder, Unblock Health
• David C. Fajgenbaum MD, MBA, MSc – Co-Founder & President, Every Cure, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
• Aaron Mitchell – Managing Principal, R&D Excellence ZS
• Navraj Nagra, MD, PhD – Associate Partner, McKinsey & Company. Leader in McKinsey's R&D Strategy, Portfolio, AI and Transformation practices.
• Sarah C. Rossetti RN, PhD, FACMI, FAMIA – Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Nursing, Columbia University

3:05 - 3:55pm Strategic Assembly - Putting Patients First

• Karla Childers, BA, MSJ, MBE – Moderator, Vice President Bioethics, Policy & Partnerships BOffice of the Chief Medical Officer Johnson & Johnson
• Aaron Leibtag – Co-Moderator, CEO & cofounder of PENTAVERE (a HEALWELL AI company)

4:05 - 5:05pm PANEL 6 The Forgotten Patients : A focus on Sickle Cell Disease

• Greta Van Susteren – Moderator, Host of Newsmax Show «The Record »
• Olivier Hermine, MD, PhD – Head of the Department of Hematology, Necker Hospital, Paris
• Solomon F. OFORI-ACQUAH, PhD – Professor of Pediatrics and Calvin Smyre Endowed Chair, GRA Eminent Scholar and Director, Georgia Solve Sickle Cell Initiative, Emory University School of Medicine, Vice Chair of Research, Department of Pediatrics, Morehouse School of Medicine
• Ify Osunkwo MD, MPH – Chief Patient Officer, Rare Disease, Novo Nordisk
• Swee Lay Thein, MD – Senior Investigator and Branch Chief - Sickle Cell Branch - National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute / National Institutes of Health
• Patient speaker to be confirmed

The Galien Patient Summit brings together a highly distinguished committee of outspoken leaders dedicated to patient-centric medicine to actuate public debate on the biggest challenges facing patients.

Galien Patient Summit Steering Committee

Awa Marie Coll Seck
Chair of the Galien Africa; Former Senior Minister to the President of the Republic of Senegal; Former Minister of Health, Republic of Senegal

Margaret Hamburg, MD
Foreign Secretary, National Academy of Medicine

Julie Louise Gerberding, MD, MPH
President and Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation for the National Institute of Health

Steven J. Lester, MD
Medical Director, Discovery Oasis; Founder and Chief Medical Officer, Mayo Clinic and ASU Alliance for Health Care Accelerator

Andrew Spiegel, Esq.
Chairman of the World Patient Alliance

Galien Patient Summit Advisory Board

Julie Croner
Patient Leader & VP, Community Development,
Health Union

Ursula Mann
Principal & Chief Patient Officer
PatientVoicePartners

Kersten Sharrock, M.S.
Global Head, Integrated PatientEngagement
Sanofi

Roi Shternin
Patient advocate and health innovation expert

About The Galien Foundation
The Galien Foundation fosters, recognizes, and rewards excellence in scientific innovation to improve the state of human health. Our vision is to be the catalyst for the development of the next generation of innovative treatments and technologies that will impact the state of medical practice and save lives. The late Professor Elie Wiesel, 1986 Peace Nobel Laureate, is The Honorary Founding President of The Galien Foundation

The Foundation oversees and directs activities in the US for the Prix Galien, an international awards program dedicated to progress through innovative medicines development, with chapters in 14 countries, Africa and an inaugural chapter established in India in 2024. The Prix Galien was created in 1970 by Roland Mehl in honor of Galen, the father of medical science and modern pharmacology. Worldwide, the Prix Galien is regarded as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in biopharmaceutical research.

For more information, visit www.galienfoundation.org.

Follow the Foundation on social media: 
https://www.facebook.com/GalienFoundation/ 
https://twitter.com/GalienFdn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-galien-foundation/

Media Contact:
Kara Bradley
Finn Partners
[email protected]
646-213-7243

SOURCE The Galien Foundation