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 250 Patient Experts (EUPATI Fellows), and with 750+ currently enrolled via the EUPATI Open Classroom. In addition, EUPATI provides an open-access multilingual Toolbox that has served more than 6.5 million users in 13 languages around the world to date.
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If you would like to collaborate with EUPATI, please visit this page.
What does EUPATI offer?
EUPATI Fellow Programme
The EUPATI Patient Expert Training Programme is a unique opportunity offering patients and patient representatives expert-level training in medicines research and development (R&D). The Programme is a mixture of e-learning and online streaming or in person training events. To date, more than 250 patient experts have graduated and have acquired skills and knowledge to make meaningful, active contributions in high level processes of patient engagement in medicines R&D. For more information, please visit the EUPATI Open Classroom.
Toolbox
The Toolbox was launched in January 2016 and contains a library of information around medicines research and development. This information is not medicine- or disease-specific. More than 6.5 million users have accessed the information on the Toolbox in less than four years, and users can access the Toolbox information in 14 languages. Explore the Toolbox.
National Platforms
EUPATI National Platforms (ENPs) mirror the EUPATI partnership at the country level. In some countries, ENPs are set up as an informal group run by volunteers, other countries have established legal entities with formal statutes and paid staff in place. Their work includes establishing national patient education programmes, establishing charters for patient involvement, members speaking internationally at conferences and promoting education by establishing workshops on patient engagement, mini-courses or webinars. Visit our National Platforms here.
Training on Patient Engagement
Training on Patient Engagement is necessary since there is a lack of understanding of efficient involvement that ensures patients and professionals both have a meaningful engagement that meets everyone’s expectations. EUPATI has developed trainings to meet these needs. The patient engagement trainings are co-designed and co-delivered with patient representatives in a multi-stakeholder framework. Click here to know more about our training portfolio.
Matchmaking
EUPATI sits at the key interface between stakeholders looking to engage patients, and patients with the requisite knowledge to provide expert level input into medicines R&D. We therefore provide an increasingly active matchmaking service for members of the EUPATI partnership. Would you like to collaborate with us? Click here
Patient Engagement Initiatives
There is a wealth of initiatives on patient engagement and EUPATI collaborates closely bringing in the essential education component. True patient engagement cannot exist without quality education, hence our involvement with initiatives at the European and Global level. With its infrastructure for patient engagement, EUPATI moves the latest developments into practices through education. Click here to know more about these initiatives.
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
Patient Engagement Training CoordinatorJana joined EUPATI in February 2021 as a Patient Engagement Training Coordinator. She is in charge of managing and implementing EUPATI’s patient engagement trainings, especially EUPATI Fundamentals and EUPATI Essentials, and to adjust and develop the in-house trainings. She is also engaged in establishing collaborations with third parties to increase the scope of EUPATI’s trainings for professionals, academia and industry. She is a PhD student in media and digital communications and has 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.
Amanda Lyons
Networks & Communications CoordinatorAmanda joined the EUPATI team in October 2020 and works as the Networks & Communications Coordinator bringing a wealth of experience in event and communications management, relationship management, engagement strategy and marketing. Amanda’s role involves supporting the external and internal communications of EUPATI and coordinating the ENP Network helping to continue its growth, as part of the EUPATI programme. Amanda has previously worked in project management and communications in medical and scientific organisations.
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
InternKaterina joined EUPATI in December 2022 as an Intern. 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. Katerina will mainly be involved in building upon EUPATI’s open-access multilingual Toolbox providing reliable information to patients & the general public.
Ebony Buehler
EUPATIConnect CoordinatorEbony joined the EUPATI team in March 2023. In this role, she coordinates the effective evaluation and enhancement of the EUPATIConnect Matchmaking platform. Ebony brings a wealth of experience in healthcare and life sciences in both the US and Europe through her years in strategy and management consulting. Ebony is passionate about empowering and amplifying the patient voice to drive innovation and access to life-saving care.
Finn McCartney
HTA4Patients 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 is coordinating our HTA4Patients Project.
Enrico Tricanico
Project Coordinator (EU Projects)Enrico 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.
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