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 recognizing the importance of meaningful partnerships with patients and caregivers to deliver truly patient-centered care. Patient and Family Advisory Councils serve as a powerful platform for harnessing their insights and experiences to drive meaningful improvements.

Memorial Sloan Kettering's Patient & Family Advisory Council for Quality (PFACQ) proudly presents the 2025 Raise Your Voice Symposium, uniting clinicians, hospital leaders, patients, and caregivers to explore strategies for strengthening partnerships within their organizations so that we can better integrate diverse perspectives and drive meaningful advancements in patient-centered care.

From thought-provoking panels on carrying patient and caregiver experiences forward to hands-on workshops to important keynotes, this year's program 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. Additionally, attendees will receive access to an online syllabus at the conclusion of the Symposium, which will include select PDFs of the faculty presentations (slides).

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

The agenda for this year's exciting event will be announced soon—stay tuned to this page for updates. In the meantime, we encourage you to explore our program summary from the inaugural 2023 symposium for a preview into the dynamic and insightful programming being planned.

Target Audience

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.

Symposium Location

This year's program will be held exclusively in-person at MSK's David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care, located at 530 East 74th Street, in the East River Conference Room (6th Floor). Registered attendees will receive detailed participation and logistical instructions via email before the Symposium.

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 Symposium is complimentary for all participants; however, registration is required to attend. Please select the "Register" tab above to complete program registration. If you are registered for this program and are no longer able to attend, please contact [email protected] to cancel you registration. For additional details on our cancellation terms, please review our Cancellation Policy.

Included in registration, attendees will be provided 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. 

"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.

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*
— 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

Hotel Accommodations

We look forward to welcoming you to Memorial Sloan Kettering for this program. 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, Memorial Sloan Kettering has negotiated special rates and amenities at select hotels in Manhattan. To view the list of select hotels and additional details on each, please visit: msk.org/accommodations

Parking Information

Street parking in Manhattan is extremely limited, so you may find it more convenient to park in Memorial Sloan Kettering’s garage or in a commercial garage. For a list of parking resources around MSK, click here. Please note that MSK CME does not offer parking validation for course attendees.

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.