Spring 2016

When the National Health Council approached Eleanor Perfetto ’80, M.S. ’88 last summer to take on the role of senior vice president of strategic initiatives, she didn’t think twice. Having served on various committees of NHC members, she had already spent much of her career devoted to NHC’s mission as a voice for the patient community.

Since taking her post in July, Perfetto—who is former senior director of federal government relations for Pfizer and still holds a post as professor of pharmaceutical health services research at University of Maryland—is excited about the future of patient engagement in areas such as drug development: “We are helping to bring patients into the process early to find out how a disease impacts their life and what outcomes are most important to them,” she says. “These are questions they haven’t been asked before.”

“We are helping to bring patients into the process early to find out how a disease impacts their life and what outcomes are most important to them.”

As the election year brings healthcare issues into the spotlight, Perfetto sees an opportunity to bring patient voices center stage as well. “It is important to see patients represented in every venue: research, policy, decision making, and healthcare delivery, access, and innovation,” she says. “The fact that pharmacists closely interact with patients and families on a daily basis makes them an important part of that process.”

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