What is EUPATI?
The European Patients’ Academy on Therapeutic Innovation (EUPATI) is a multi-stakeholder public-private partnership originally launched by the IMI-EUPATI project (2012-2017) and hosted by the European Patients’ Forum (EPF) from 2017 to 2020. EUPATI is today established as an independent non-profit Foundation in the Netherlands. It is a successful programme that provides education and training to increase the capacity and capability of patients and patient representatives to understand and meaningfully contribute to medicines research and development (R&D), and to improve the availability of medical information for patients and other stakeholders.
It does so by conducting its established Patient Expert Training Programme which has trained more than 330 Patient Experts (EUPATI Fellows), and with 1170+ currently enrolled via the EUPATI Open Classroom. In addition, EUPATI provides an open-access multilingual Toolbox that has served more than 7.5 million users in 14 languages around the world to date.
If you would like to collaborate with EUPATI, please visit this page.
What we provide
Empowering patient involvement through Information, Education and Collaboration. (ICE)
Our goal is to continue to grow our 3 fundamental pillars – Information, Education and Collaboration, expanding our reach globally and reaching new and diverse audiences with our activities.
How we are structured
The EUPATI Foundation is registered as an independent, non-profit organisation in the Netherlands and its formal name is ‘Stichting EUPATI Foundation’ (KVK number 80029019). It has the status of a “Public Benefit Organisation” (Dutch: Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling, ANBI) in the Netherlands. EUPATI is a public-private partnership and its governance structure reflects this spirit.
EUPATI Patient Involvement Roadmap Video
EUPATI created a practical roadmap for patient involvement in medicines R&D. The roadmap identifies particular stages in R&D for patient involvement and provides guidance in terms of specific opportunities or activities where patient involvement can be sought. We have now created a video of this roadmap to help all users better understand this resource.
Meet the Team
Maria Dutarte
Executive DirectorMaria joined EUPATI in 2020 and is the Executive Director of the EUPATI Foundation. She oversees the EUPATI Secretariat and the different workstreams. She has previously worked as a Project Manager at the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG) coordinating patient involvement in a number of training initiatives and scientific projects. Maria has also worked for different scientific and international organisations. Her educational background is in International Education and Communications.
Ingrid Heyne
Training Organisation and Alumni CoordinatorAfter 13 years in the Pharmaceutical Industry, Ingrid Heyne joined EUPATI in 2012 at the start of the EUPATI IMI Project phase. Currently, Ingrid is responsible for the organization and logistics of the EUPATI training portfolio, including the Patient Expert Programme and the Patient Engagement trainings. Ingrid also acts as the Alumni Coordinator.
Jana Popova
Content Development CoordinatorJana joined EUPATI in February 2021, initially to coordinate EUPATI’s patient engagement trainings, especially EUPATI Fundamentals and EUPATI Essentials, and in-house trainings. Today, Jana leads the content development of training materials, and coordinates the EUPATI Faculty and the Editorial Board. She has a PhD in media and digital communications and extensive experience in patient advocacy, digital health, training methods and communicational strategies.
Gemma Killeen
Business Development CoordinatorGemma joined EUPATI in 2017 and her role involves supporting EUPATI’s business development agenda (e.g. fundraising and proposal writing). Her expertise lies in strategy development and implementation, campaign management, and key leadership and stakeholder advocacy and engagement.
Bojan Cigan
Partnerships and Operations CoordinatorBojan joined EUPATI in 2021 and coordinates EUPATI’s partnerships and supports the governance & decision-making processes. He has a professional background in psychology and has previously worked for LEGEBITRA (Slovenia) as a counsellor and project coordinator within HIV prevention. From 2017 until 2020, he worked for the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG) as Events Coordinator and Project Officer on e.g. PARADIGM and EFOEUPATI.
Laia Bisbal
Open Classroom coordinatorLaia joined EUPATI in November 2022 and coordinates the Open Classroom learning platform. Her professional background includes training design and facilitation, consulting and project coordination in partnership with governmental and non-profit organizations. Laia has a degree in Economics and a Master’s degree in International Cooperation, Human Rights and Social Inclusion.
Vitalii Luchinskii
IT CoordinatorVitalii joined EUPATI in 2020 as the IT Coordinator. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in IT and has 15 years of experience in IT support for different companies. He provides support for EUPATI’s IT infrastructure and online platforms.
Katerina Charapa
Project AssistantKaterina joined EUPATI in December 2022 as an Intern and since January 2024 as Project Assistant, mainly working on HTA4Patients project. One of her focus areas is the EUPATI’s open-access multilingual Toolbox providing reliable information to patients & the general public. She is originally from Greece and her academic background is in Psychology & Human Rights. Having worked with populations at risk and addressing issues of discrimination, she is motivated to work on enhancing access to health-related information.
Finn McCartney
Project CoordinatorFinn joined EUPATI in August 2023 as a Project Coordinator. He has previously worked as a Parliamentary Assistant and has volunteered at several organisations in various roles. Finn has a BA and an MA in European Studies, specialising in Economics and European Policy, respectively. Currently, he coordinates the HTA4Patients project.
Enrico Tricanico
Project CoordinatorEnrico joined EUPATI in August 2023 as a Project Coordinator for EU projects Simpathic, Geremy and Combine. Enrico has an academic background in Political Science. He has almost 10 years of professional experience in the field of Project Management and R&D, with specific expertise on ethical, legal and financial aspects of Clinical Trials. Socio-Economic Analyst and is a freelance author.
Sarah Bernier
Network & Communications CoordinatorSarah joined EUPATI in March 2024 as Temporary Network and Communications Coordinator. Within this role, she oversees the external and internal communications and Coordinates the EUPATI ENP Network. Originally from France, she has a Master’s degree in International Relations and Communications. Her professional background includes experience in communications, event and relations management, having worked within foundations and social enterprises in the sustainability field. She is a strong advocate in building more sustainable, efficient, and inclusive systems, no matter the sector.
Maria Connolly
EUPATI InternMaria joined EUPATI in September 2024 as an Intern, where she plays a key role in supporting the development and implementation of a systematic impact assessment of EUPATI Fundamentals and Essentials trainings. She holds a Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) degree and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). Her diverse professional background spans Pharmacy, Regulatory Affairs, Patient Advocacy, Project Management, and Health Promotion. With experience across the healthcare, medical devices, and non-profit sectors, Maria is passionate about empowering patients and ensuring their voices are central to healthcare innovation and decision-making.
Training
EUPATI offers face-to-face and online courses on medicines’ research & development and patient engagement, and can also provide training tailored to your organisations’ needs.
View our Training Portfolio
Toolbox
The Toolbox is an online library on the A-Z of medicines research and development and patient engagement. The information is not medicine-or disease-specific, but is applicable to the majority of diseases and/or medicines.
Launch the Toolbox