The PATIENTS Program

09/10/2025

On our latest podcast episode, we introduce our new national community partners through the PATIENTS Going National Initiative:

✅Seantae and Trevor Jackson, founders of the Sandal Blue Foundation
✅Delayna Watkins, founder of the Women's Wellness Lounge
✅Anna and Jordan Rathkopf, breast cancer advocates and nationally renowned photographers and visual storytellers through The Rathkopfs
✅Brian Guiterrez, patient advocate for the spinal bifida, colorectal cancer, and disability communities
✅Sharon Rivera Sanchez, founder of Trials of Color

👀Watch the full episode to learn more about their work and how they plan to partner with us: https://youtu.be/dz9y_hK6pgw
👂Listen to the full episode: https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/qiyS88AwwWb

Thank you to Bayer, AstraZeneca, and Novo Nordisk for their support of this initiative.

09/01/2025

08/28/2025

🎧 Whether you’re relaxing at home, hitting the road, or enjoying the last long weekend of summer, it’s a great time to subscribe to our podcast, The Bridge, the official podcast for the PATIENTS Program on our YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/eBU2jRCR
You can also find us on your favorite listening app https://lnkd.in/e58urD5z

The PATIENTS Program is the bridge between the community and researchers. Our podcast features community voices that tackle a variety of health and research topics. The PATIENTS Program created this partnership to help researchers listen to the community’s voice and build a bridge to an effective learning healthcare community.

By subscribing, you’ll never miss an episode—we’ll deliver fresh conversations, stories, and insights right to your favorite podcast app. It’s the easiest way to keep up while you unwind and recharge.

So before the holiday weekend slips away, click the link above to subscribe to make sure you’ve got something great to listen to while you soak up the last days of summer. 🌞

08/27/2025

❓Are you a who would like live feedback on your proposal from leaders in the community?

Faculty researchers seeking feedback on grant proposals or active projects can apply to meet with the Community Think Tank on Research.

Take part in the next Community Think Tank on Research on
📆Tuesday, September 23
⏰ at 3 p.m.

✍️The deadline to register is September 10.

The application has just 12 questions. If accepted, five community leaders will advise on better ways to engage and .
The Community Think Tank on Research serves as a community-academic paradigm-shifting process in research.

👀Check out the video below to learn more.

Use this link to access the Application to enter the Community Think Tank on Research: https://forms.office.com/r/xudaAMCuaB

If you have any urgent questions, you can contact Andrelle Mathelier: amathelier@rx.umaryland.edu

08/19/2025

We are thrilled to introduce another one of our new national partners with our Going National Initiative. ✨

Meet Sharon Rivera-Sanchez, a cancer survivor who has turned her personal journey into a mission to give back. Through the Trials of Color organization, she raises awareness, advocates for patients, and works with communities to take charge of their health. ❤️

In this Going National Initiative Partner Spotlight from the PATIENTS Program, we share Sharon’s inspiring story and her commitment to improving health equity nationwide. 👀

Thank you to AstraZeneca, Bayer, and Novo Nordisk for their support as sponsors of the PATIENTS Going National Initiative.

🔔 Subscribe to our YouTube channel to hear more stories from changemakers across the country who are shaping the future of health research and patient engagement: https://bit.ly/SubscribetoourYouTubeChannel

08/14/2025

In this podcast episode, we meet a long-time partner of the PATIENTS Program, Daniel Frye. He is a leading advocate and policy expert for the blind and disabled communities. With decades of experience, Daniel has dedicated his life to giving a voice to those who are often left out of public discourse and policy decisions.

As The PATIENTS Program expands its national reach to engage with the disability community, Dan joins us to:
🟢 challenge stereotypes
🔴demystify misconceptions about blindness and disability, and
🟣share powerful insights on engaging people with disabilities.

👀Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/r30XEDbJWuU
👂Listen to the full episode: https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/vBSvRCd3LVb

❗Don't miss an episode! Subscribe to our YouTube channel: bit.ly/SubscribetoourYouTubeChannel

08/11/2025

Don't miss the last event in our ASTARISQ roundtable series, where our speakers will talk about and discuss resources to make health delivery systems and the communities they serve more health literate. To register for this free event: https://tinyurl.com/2025Roundtables

08/07/2025

emphasizes people's ability to use health information, rather than only understand it. In our final roundtable session, our speakers will share how they navigate the challenges for advancing health literacy and discuss resources to make health delivery systems and the communities they serve more health literate. To register for this free event: https://tinyurl.com/2025Roundtables.

08/06/2025

‼️We are proud to introduce as one of our new national partners in the PATIENTS Program's Going National Initiative. ‼️

Delayna is the founder and executive director of the , a visionary community space committed to transforming how women—especially women of color—experience and . What started as Delayna’s personal mission to create a safe, empowering environment has become a movement to ensure that women’s voices, stories, and are central to healthcare conversations and research.

🤝By partnering with the Going National Initiative, the Women's Wellness Lounge adds a powerful missing piece: access to resources, support, and national platforms that amplify community health voices.

In this clip, Delayna shares how women often don’t see themselves in —and why changing that narrative is essential.

❤Thank you to AstraZeneca, Bayer, and Novo Nordisk for their support as sponsors of the PATIENTS Going National Initiative.

08/04/2025

A reminder to join us for "Accessibility and Affordability: Policy and Practice." Learn about resources to reduce the burden of , and promising policies and practices to decrease the financial barriers to accessing and affording quality across the United States. To register for this free event and the Series: https://tinyurl.com/2025Roundtables

07/31/2025

In the session "Accessibility and Affordability: Policy and Practice," our roundtable speakers will share resources to reduce the burden of , and promising policies and practices to decrease the financial barriers to accessing and affording quality across the United States. While over 90% of the United States population has some form of , medical debt remains a problem to both access and afford health care. To register for this free event and the Series: https://tinyurl.com/2025Roundtables