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Patient- facing Documents and the use of lay language
Who it is for
This session is for medical writing, clinical, regulatory, ethics and patient-engagement professionals.
What it covers
Describe why patient-facing documents require a different communication approach from scientific and regulatory documents.
Recognise common ethical concerns identified during ethics committee review.
Describe how patients experience and use study information in practice.
Apply core lay-language techniques without losing scientific accuracy.
Plan an effective drafting, patient-review, and quality-control process for patient-facing documents.
Dr. Sebastian Florescu is a Medical Writer, Lay Language & New Media, at Boehringer Ingelheim, where he has worked for about 5 years. With a PhD in cancer biology from the German Cancer Research Institute, Sebastian combines his scientific expertise with a passion for plain language writing and visual communication to make complex scientific information accessible and engaging for patients and the public. He authors regulatory documents, such as the lay protocol synopsis and the informed consent form. He also supports development of structured authoring and AI-enabled solutions for digital-data-flow clinical implementations. An active member of EMWA, Sebastian is committed to improving the clarity and accessibility of clinical trial information through innovative approaches.
After over 25 years as a medical writer Alison retired from her position as a senior director of the Medical Writing Services at PAREXEL in 2014 continuing to provide freelance consultancy and training services for several years after this. She was a member of EMWA from the beginning of her career as a writer and President of EMWA from May 2016-17.
She has been a member of her local Hampshire Research Ethics Committee since July 2018 during which time she has reviewed numerous clinical research studies. She has a special interest in ensuring patient facing documents provide full clear information to participants to ensure they can provide “true” informed consent.
Ana Pataki is a patient advocate and a PhD student in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Novi Sad.
She is the founder of Empowera Consulting, a boutique agency focused on strategic consulting in healthcare and civil society capacity-building.
Her professional work centres on patient advocacy, with a particular focus on rare diseases and paediatric cancer.
Together with her husband, Ana co-created the podcast “Rare and Share”; a platform for sharing the personal stories of patients living with rare diseases, as well as the experiences of their families (in Serbian).
Ana serves as the project coordinator at Lil' Brave One – Hrabriša, a nonprofit organisation in Serbia that supports children with rare neurotransmitter disorders and their families.
Ana participated in the EUPATI Patient Expert Training Programme as a trainee in Cohort 7 (2024). Following her training, she joined the EUPATI Faculty Committee, contributing her perspective as a practising patient advocate.
In this capacity, she advises on the practical application of knowledge and skills gained through the programme.
Lisa is a Senior Partner and CEO of Trilogy Writing & Consulting Ltd. Aside from management activities, she leads client projects, with extensive experience in a
variety of documents. Lisa has a special interest in writing for the general public and in patient information. Following a PhD and post doc. in Pathology at Cambridge,
Lisa began her medical writing career in 2000. Since then she has also been involved in the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) as a member of the Educational Committee, mentor, leader, and assessor of workshops, and teaches and reviews
workshops for the American Medical Writers Association. Lisa holds an EMWA professional development certificate, is a member of TOPRA, DIA, and PIPA, initiated the EMWA PV Special Interest Group, is chair of the Geoff Hall Scholarship
Committee, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.
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Changes to registration
Changes may be made to workshop or seminar choices after booking (that is, a cancellation of one workshop or seminar choice and replacement by another), for an administrative fee of €27, plus any difference in price between the choice of workshops or seminars. Workshops, seminars and lunchtime sponsored sessions may be added to your original registration (subject to availability) at any time, without an administrative fee by contacting info@emwa.org. All changes are subject to availability.
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If you wish to cancel your attendance at the conference, a refund, minus an administration fee of €162, will be made provided your cancellation is made in writing to EMWA head office before 20 October 2026. No refunds will be made after this date.
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