Raise Your Voice: Patients & Caregivers Effecting Change 2025

Wednesday, October 8, 2025, 3:00 PM - Friday, October 10, 2025, 3:00 PM, David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care, 530 East 74th Street, New York, NY

Hospitals are increasingly realizing that they must effectively partner with their patients and caregivers in order to deliver patient-centered care. Patient and Family Advisory Councils are the most effective vehicle for leveraging the experiences of patients and caregivers.

The Patient & Family Advisory Council for Quality (PFACQ) at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) is hosting this symposium to bring together patients, caregivers, clinicians, and hospital leaders to strategize around how to most effectively partner with their respective organizations so that they may integrate their perspectives and better advance patient-centered care.

From thought-provoking panels on carrying patient and caregiver experiences forward to hands-on workshops, to important keynotes, the 2025 Raise Your Voice Symposium offers a wonderful balance of sessions to turn insights into action while building lasting connections with like-minded individuals passionate about improving patient and caregiver experiences.

Course Directors, Frank Licciardi and Johanna Schoen, welcome you to this year's program:

Highlights of this three-day program include:

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Challenges and Opportunities in Cancer Survivorship
Emily S. Tonorezos, MD, MPH
National Cancer Institute Office of Cancer Survivorship

Cancer survivorship is a state of being, including the perspectives, needs, health, and the physical, psychological, social, and economic challenges experienced by people and caregivers after a cancer diagnosis. Dr. Tonorezos will share current efforts to grow and sustain cancer survivorship research along with future avenues and emerging issues.

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Medical Improv: Practicing Patient-Centered Skills Through Play
Dan Sipp
Duke University School of Medicine

Medical Improv uses exercises borrowed from the theater to help learners practice valuable skills such as deep listening, collaboration and flexible thinking. In this interactive workshop you’ll be encouraged to try out some simple exercises that highlight the value and impact of this new discipline in a safe, low-stakes environment.

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Integrative Oncology: Putting Patients at the Center of Care and Research
Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Integrative oncology brings complementary therapies, such as acupuncture, meditation, yoga, and herbal medicine, together with conventional medical treatment to support people with cancer during and beyond treatment. Dr. Mao will discuss how involving patient partners in research and care innovation can lead to improvements in pain and symptom management and reduce hospitalizations using integrative oncology approaches.

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Collaborating to Advance Digital Health Innovation for Cancer Care and Research
Rick Peng, MBA
Eileen Flowers, PhD
Jonathan Dow, PhD
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

To maximize reach and impact of novel technologies, MSK works with commercial partners to develop and scale technological innovations that address unmet needs in cancer care and research. A portion of this work is done through “outside-in” innovation activity where MSK helps companies accelerate the development of mission-aligned technologies. This session will introduce attendees to cutting-edge digital health innovations.

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PFAC Panel Discussions

The 2025 Raise Your Voice Symposium will also feature four panels in which attendees will hear directly from PFAC members about their work advancing patient-centered care.

• Death Over Dinner: Inspiring Conversations About Life and Death — This panel will feature speakers from patient and family advisory councils who will discuss how they navigated their respective hospitals to successfully launch their own Death Over Dinner program, as well as how MSK’s program continues to innovate and evolve.

• Principles and Fundamentals — This panel will focus on some of the more fundamental challenges faced by patient and family advisory councils. From recruitment to retention strategies, member engagement to meeting management, this session features several PFACs speaking about how they have addressed the most critical needs of any successful advisory council.

• Creative Breakthroughs — Featuring representatives from three different PFACs, this panel will showcase groundbreaking initiatives that have yielded meaningful change, including quality and safety improvements in patient care, increased access to supportive oncology services, and increased member involvement in project ideation.

• Caregiver as Catalyst — This panel will feature critical caregiver perspectives and how caregivers’ personal experiences have inspired meaningful changes in patient care. Through their unique perspectives, caregivers will discuss the challenges, insights, and advocacy efforts that have shaped policies within cancer care settings.

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Who Should Attend

This symposium is designed for patients, caregivers, and staff of cancer centers around the country who are currently participating with their respective patient and family advisory councils. Additionally, other staff at cancer centers interested in collaborating with patient and caregiver advocates are also welcome to attend.

The program will be held in-person only (no virtual option will be available) at MSK's David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care. While COVID-19 vaccination is strongly encouraged for institutional guests, proof of vaccination is no longer required. For additional information on visiting us onsite, please refer to our Visiting Us page.

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Online Syllabus

Attendees will receive access to an online syllabus after the course, which includes select PDFs of the faculty presentations (slides) from the course. Attendees must check in during the live course in order to receive access to the syllabus.

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1. Identify effective strategies of engagement utilized by other patient and family advisory councils
2. Discuss how to successfully challenge the cultural taboos surrounding the open discussion of end-of-life preparedness
3. Learn about evidence-based, patient-centered care advancements in integrative medicine
4. Recognize the opportunities and challenges of emerging information technologies to support patients and caregivers
5. Explain systematic approaches to problem solving within the context of improving the patient and caregiver experience

This in-person symposium is complimentary for all to attend. Please select the Register tab above to complete registration (registration is required in order to attend).

Attendees will be provided with continental breakfast, lunch, dinner, and refreshment breaks. Please contact [email protected] at least one week prior to the course if you have any special dietary requests or require any specific accommodations. Detailed participation instructions for visiting us onsite will be emailed to you prior to the start of the program.

"Industry professionals" are welcome to attend Continuing Medical Education events at MSK for their own educational purposes. View our Registration Policy for Industry Professionals for more information.

For details on our cancellation terms, please review our Cancellation Policy.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The content of this activity is non-clinical.

This Symposium will offer the following credit types:

— AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™
— NYS Psychology Contact Hours* (Pending application)
— NYS Social Work Contact Hours*
— ANCC CNE Contact Hours
— Patient Experience Continuing Education credits (PXEs)

*Not all states accept New York State Contact Hours. Please check with the licensing board in your state for guidance on their acceptance of the credit types offered for this course

We look forward to welcoming you to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK).

If you’ll be traveling to New York City from out of town, we recommend that you plan your overnight stays as soon as possible. To make the planning a little easier, MSK has negotiated special rates and amenities at select hotels in Manhattan. Click here to view the list of select hotels and additional details on each.

For details on planning your visit to MSK, including travel and parking information, click here. Please note that parking validation is not available for attendees.

If you require any specific accommodations to attend this event in person, please contact [email protected] at least one week in advance.

Symposium Directors 

Frank Licciardi
Chair Emeritus, PFACQ 
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Johanna Schoen, PhD
Chair Emeritus, PFACQ
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

 

Symposium Faculty Sponsors 

Fiyinfolu Balogun, MD, PhD
Assistant Attending Physician 
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center 

Gabriela Bambrick-Santoyo, MD
Assistant Attending Physician 
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center 

 

A complete faculty list and program will be available soon.

Mitigation of Relevant Financial Relationships

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center adheres to the ACCME’s Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. In accordance with the ACCME's Standards, identification, mitigation, and/or disclosure of financial relationships is not needed for non-clinical accredited education.

The content of this activity is non-clinical.