News: LKCMedicine launches OPEN Voices network at Patient Voices Symposium 2024

By Thung Pei Ying, Senior Executive

On 19 November, the Office of Patient Engagement (OPEN Voices) was officially launched during the Patient Voices Symposium 2024 held at the Toh Kian Chui Annex at the Novena Campus. The network is the first of its kind among medical schools in Singapore. It is part of a wider effort by LKCMedicine to incorporate patient and public involvement in medical education and research in a holistic and comprehensive manner.

OPEN Voices ensures that LKCMedicine’s research can address challenges encountered by patients and optimises research through integrating the patient perspective in key activities, including the development of research priorities, and designing and implementing research studies and clinical trials. This will also strengthen the School’s mission to nurture a new generation of effective doctors who are also empathetic communicators.

Noting that patient and public involvement in research remains relatively new in Asia, Professor Joseph Sung, NTU Senior Vice President (Health & Life Sciences) and Dean, LKCMedicine, said: “By taking the lead as the first medical school in Singapore to set up OPEN Voices and involve patient and members of the public as partners in medical research and education, LKCMedicine hopes to encourage the growth of patient engagement in Singapore and Asia and contribute to the advancement of healthcare that puts patients at the centre.”

In his welcome address, Associate Professor Sanjay Chotirmall, Vice-Dean of Research at LKCMedicine, emphasised the importance of patient involvement in medical research and education in formulating new and effective cures and improving patients’ experience and health outcomes.

“What we are doing here is about uplevelling their involvement to be research partners, to advise and co-create patient-informed research and medical education,” said Associate Professor Chotirmall. “This will help to optimise research design and processes, ensuring that patients’ needs, expectations and preferences are incorporated, and ensuring that our work is grounded in the real world, responsive to real needs, and accountable to the people it aims to help.”

To date, OPEN Voices comprises of 40 patient, caregiver and public partners from all walks of life, ages and ethnicities. The patient partners live with a variety of health conditions, from cancer and diabetes to eczema and dementia.

Mr Ellil Mathiyan, a double cancer survivor and OPEN Voices patient partner, is one of many patient partners who is collaborating with a research team to apply for a cancer screening research grant. Aside from giving feedback on the research design and implementation, Mr Mathiyan would be listed as a co-author on the research paper if the grant is successfully awarded. He said, “It is more important for researchers to find out what matters to patients, instead of what is the matter with patients. As a patient partner in OPEN Voices, I am keen to bring my experience in patient advocacy and engaging with fellow patients and healthcare professionals in the clinical setting to medical researchers, and support them in making their research more patient-centric.”

Sharing Mr Mathiyan’s sentiments, Ms Rae Mok, an Assistant Manager at the Singapore Cancer Society and caregiver-partner to OPEN Voices, said, “Through OPEN Voices, I hope to support researchers and doctors in developing person-centred care, ensuring future treatment recognises us as persons first, and our illnesses second.”

The Patient Voices Symposium also served as a platform for key stakeholders to foster meaningful dialogue and collaboration. The event featured a lineup of talks and dialogues by patient partners, advocates, researchers, clinicians, academia, healthcare professionals, and industry leaders surrounding the topics of patient advocacy and involvement.

Guests were also treated to a lively and heartwarming performance by the OPEN Voices members, led by music teacher, songwriter and patient partner Mr Hazwady Nazran.

The OPEN Voices network is now poised to play a big role in both LKCMedicine’s and Singapore’s journey into patient engagement for advancing healthcare and medical education.