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In this episode of Amplify: Elevating Patient Voices, hosts Ursula Mann and Brent Korte sit down with their teammate Christine Pisapia for a deeply personal and professional conversation about her decades-long journey in healthcare.
Christine’s path has taken her from physiotherapy to leadership in the pharmaceutical industry, to her current work in advocacy and volunteering—all tied together by one common thread: her passion for improving lives. As both a professional and a caregiver to multiple family members, Christine brings unique insights into the realities of healthcare and the transformative power of patient and caregiver voices.
She shares how her own experience as a living kidney donor to her brother reshaped her perspective and ignited her advocacy in transplant care, policy, and peer support. Christine also reflects on the ripple effect of caregiving, the gaps she sees in our healthcare systems, and why caregivers must be recognized as critical partners in care.
Why you should listen
- Discover how personal and professional experiences intertwine to shape meaningful healthcare change.
- Learn why patient and caregiver voices are essential at every stage of decision-making, from research to policy.
- Hear Christine’s inspiring story as a living kidney donor and her advocacy for equitable access to transplantation.
- Gain insight into the challenges—and the opportunities—for caregivers within healthcare systems.
Episode Highlights
- [00:00:46] Christine’s career journey — from physiotherapy, to pharma leadership, to her current work in advocacy and volunteering.
- [00:03:00] Learning from patients — why hearing lived experiences provides insights that no textbook or professional expertise can match.
- [00:04:30] Kidney transplant advocacy — Christine shares her work in this space and why listening to patients should shape funding and policy decisions.
- [00:07:12] Living donation story — Christine recounts donating a kidney to her brother and how the experience transformed her life.
- [00:08:28] The ripple effect — how caregiving and donation impact not just the patient, but families, friends, and communities.
- [00:09:32] The caregiver’s role — why caregivers need greater recognition, resources, and support within healthcare systems.
- [00:11:42] A call to action — why including patients and caregivers at every decision-making table is critical to addressing today’s healthcare challenges.
- [00:12:27] Why Patient Voice Partners — Christine shares what drew her to join the team and why she believes in its mission.
Christine Pisapia
Stakeholder Engagement Specialist
Christine Pisapia combines senior leadership experience in pharmaceuticals and medical devices with a background as a physiotherapist. Her bilingual expertise and Quebec background enable her to bridge cultural gaps effectively. Known for her integrity and deep understanding of stakeholder perspectives, Christine brings valuable insights to Patient Voice Partners. She demonstrates her commitment to patient engagement through both her professional work and extensive volunteering in the kidney donor space, consistently working to enhance patient voice activities and improve healthcare outcomes.
Transcript
[00:00:00] Ursula: Welcome to Amplify Elevating Patient Voices, a podcast powered by patient voice partners, where real stories spark bold conversations. I’m Ursula Mann.
[00:00:13] Brent: And I’m Brent Korte. [00:00:15] Together. We’re talking with patients, caregivers, and the healthcare change makers who are listening and taking action
[00:00:22] Ursula: from personal journeys to policy shifts.
[00:00:24] Ursula: These are the voices shaping a healthcare system that listens.[00:00:30]
[00:00:34] Ursula: Brent, I’m super excited. ’cause today we get to have somebody join us that I love spending time with and I’ve known for a really long time. When you have somebody that’s special in your life and you [00:00:45] value moments that you spend with them, that’s this for me. So what are you really excited about for today?
[00:00:50] Brent: I’m excited to hear Christine’s perspective and she’s got a great background and just an interesting perspective. Every time that we’ve been on calls as a team, it brings that to the table, so I’m excited to [00:01:00] get into that.
[00:01:00] Ursula: And she doesn’t just have a great background. She’s just a really great person.
[00:01:04] Ursula: This is someone over the years that I’ve laughed with, I’ve cried with, you’ve shared heartfelt moments, and she just brings such a thoughtful perspective, both brilliant as a strategist, [00:01:15] which I’ve always appreciated. Thought to thinking about it carefully from different perspective, which is a great skillset that not everybody can manage.
[00:01:23] Ursula: And she brings a ton of personal experience, just all around thoughtful, considerate, strategic, and quite [00:01:30] frankly, brilliantly smart. So I’m really excited to dive in today. If you’re ready to get started, let’s bring Christine over and let’s get going.
[00:01:37] Brent: Yeah, let’s go
[00:01:37] Ursula3: now. Christine, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
[00:01:40] Christine: Sure. My career in healthcare really started a number of years [00:01:45] ago, and it took a lot of twists and turns along the way, but I’ve always been in that lane of healthcare. I started as a physio many decades ago, and then I did about close to 20 years in the healthcare industry. Now I [00:02:00] work with you, PVP, and I do a ton of volunteer work in healthcare.
[00:02:04] Christine: So really the common thread here has always been healthcare. That’s my passion. And I’ve also been a caregiver to three family members who unfortunately went through some [00:02:15] serious health issues. So that’s a little bit of my background in healthcare.
[00:02:20] Brent: Christine, I just wanted to pick up on your twists and turns and just if you could talk about some of the big insights that you’ve had, both as a caregiver and just your role within the healthcare system.
[00:02:28] Christine: What I meant by the twists and [00:02:30] turns is that I could have chosen to be a healthcare professional for my entire career, or I could have chosen to be an industry for my entire career and or continued to do volunteer work in advocacy in a different healthcare field. But [00:02:45] really the twists and turn had to do with just.
[00:02:48] Christine: Pivoting, but always within healthcare, the twists and turn really did, or I should say the curve balls came when our family was struck with various healthcare issues. As I mentioned, I just [00:03:00] went with the flow of life and the various opportunities that came to me, and I feel like I’ve come to a really good place now.
[00:03:08] Christine: I’m really doing what I love most within healthcare.
[00:03:12] Ursula: Christine, I’ve always appreciated over the [00:03:15] years you and I have been fortunate to spend a lot of years together and I’d like to know what really jazzes you in a day. You’ve shared with me that you really appreciate hearing from patients directly.
[00:03:25] Ursula: ’cause we worked many years ago together learning from different groups [00:03:30] and physicians. But something changed along the way and it is your personal experience and I know that has really changed how you’re spending your time in the work of kidney transplant. I wanna talk a little bit more about that, but first.
[00:03:42] Ursula: What excites you most in a day when you learn [00:03:45] something new?
[00:03:45] Christine: Just the fact of learning something new is something that always jazzes me, but I have to say, whereas in the past I would learn something new professionally, either a new skill or something new in a therapeutic area. What I enjoy [00:04:00] learning nowadays is learning from the patients and caregivers themselves, because you can work in a particular therapeutic area for many years.
[00:04:10] Christine: You think you know the inside out story of that particular therapeutic area, but until you [00:04:15] actually hear the lived experience of somebody who’s suffering from that condition or the people who are caring for them, that’s when it all comes together. And when we hear those stories and we put it together [00:04:30] and offer some solutions that can remove some of the barriers they’re facing, when we feel that we can make a difference.
[00:04:38] Christine: That is the most exciting part of any job, whether it’s in volunteering, whether it’s with PBP, it’s [00:04:45] when you make a difference in those people’s lives that it gives you a huge boost.
[00:04:49] Brent: Great insights. Christine, can talk a little bit about just those learnings given all your other experiences as well, but as real life experience, but how more of that, what you’ve learned and [00:05:00] also from following patient journeys both within your own family and otherwise, just the impact of that and the role of that whether it’s research or in market access strategy. I’m putting my industry hat on ’cause that’s been most of my career. But just that what [00:05:15] insights can be gained that way?
[00:05:17] Christine: Yeah. I can give you concrete examples of what happens when you have a better idea of what’s going inside the daily life of somebody who’s suffering from a particular condition. Currently, as was mentioned by Ursula, I do a lot of advocacy and peer-to-peer volunteer work in the field [00:05:30] of kidney transplant.
[00:05:31] Christine: And to give an example of what happens when policymakers or healthcare centers don’t truly listen to people with a lived experience. The best example of that is that if all key stakeholders truly understood a day in the life of a person on [00:05:45] hemodialysis versus someone who is transplanted, they would not disproportionately fund dialysis treatment.
[00:05:51] Christine: Which by the way, is the most expensive treatment of any in the healthcare space, and the less desirable option for those who could [00:06:00] be transplanted both on their health and their quality of life. So it’s a clear example that they are disconnected from that reality, and if they truly understood it, they would make the right decisions.
[00:06:13] Christine: Now, on a professional side, when I [00:06:15] was a business unit leader at a pharmaceutical company. We were launching a product in a new therapeutic area and we didn’t know anything about that therapeutic area and we didn’t know much about the experience of the patient. [00:06:30] So I guess we were very much ahead of our time, ’cause this is like many decades ago.
[00:06:34] Christine: And we decided to do some focus groups with women and the patients themselves. And that’s when we finally understood what our product could offer them, [00:06:45] who our true competitors were. How we would be able to be received once we launched the product. And as a result of that, we were able to do a clear forecast and hit our number on the [00:07:00] first year.
[00:07:01] Christine: Now that’s for anybody who’s launched a new product in a new therapeutic area in the industry. That’s a massive win because you usually never hit your number in the first year ’cause you don’t really know what you’re getting into. But [00:07:15] because we sat down with the patients and truly understood their reality, we were able to nail that number.
[00:07:20] Ursula: Christine, that’s incredible. Already you described a situation that changed your professional work experiences from hearing from people [00:07:30] directly, and something you said really resonated with me. You can work in an area for a long time, but if you’re not hearing from everyone, including those living with it, you’re missing some key information.
[00:07:41] Ursula: You had shared to do a lot of advocacy and peer-to-peer [00:07:45] volunteer work in the field of the kidney transplant. Christine, why do you work in the kidney area?
[00:07:49] Christine: I don’t mind sharing that because, I’m sharing it a lot, both through the advocacy and peer-to-peer support. A little, almost 11 years ago, I donated a kidney to my brother, and that was a [00:08:00] life-changing experience for both of us, not just him.
[00:08:02] Christine: He was on peritoneal dialysis. It got him unplugged, as I like to call it, but it was a life-changing experience for me too. It’s a wonderful experience. A huge boost to the soul, but I realized that I didn’t wanna leave it [00:08:15] just at that to leave it at just seeing my brother doing better, because I see, thanks to my experience as a healthcare professional in the industry and so on, I see where the gaps still are today and post COVID, they’re getting worse.
[00:08:29] Christine: I [00:08:30] wanted to make a difference, and so now I’m involved in a lot of work advocacy, as I said, peer-to-peer. I’m on a Health Canada panel working with Canadian Blood Services on consensus papers. Et cetera, and another organization soon as well. So I’m really involved in that [00:08:45] field,
[00:08:45] Ursula: Christine, that’s incredible.
[00:08:47] Ursula: And I’m sitting here thinking, how does your brother feel and what do you get for your birthday presents? How do you thank your sister enough for being able to help? So how did that conversation go?
[00:08:57] Christine: I don’t want anything to be different. That’s the gift, and the [00:09:00] biggest gift is to be able to see him live his life and to see the ripple effect it has on his family.
[00:09:06] Christine: He has two children that are grown up now, but his spouse, his friends, when the donation took place, I was surprised to get a lot of thank you cards from all [00:09:15] the people around him, which I didn’t expect at the time, but that’s when you see that, the ripple effect of the gesture. But yeah, the true gift is to see him live his life.
[00:09:24] Brent: So Christine, thank you for sharing that, and that’s remarkable. I think as you’re talking, it just makes me [00:09:30] think of like you, I’ve been in the pharmaceutical industry for quite some time in various roles and that sort of thing, and just the insights from, they’re not only differentiators in the marketplace, we say the different insights you gather, but.
[00:09:44] Brent: True [00:09:45] stories and actual, not stories, but real lives that are impacted, both you, your brother, and everybody around you. So maybe if you could talk even a little bit more about, not necessarily if you wanna talk about your situation as well, but for caregivers. Just caregivers and [00:10:00] the importance of their voice, specifically within the advocate system, within the market access, within our broader healthcare system and the role that they play.
[00:10:08] Brent: Love for you to talk about that.
[00:10:09] Christine: I’ll speak to my personal experience is that, and I there, it’s something that I can’t [00:10:15] reveal because then it’s not within my purview to do, but I’ll try to be generic enough to give you an idea. Our family had to deal with a situation that required my full attention as a caregiver, and [00:10:30] thankfully at that time, this happened when I was not in a full-time job.
[00:10:35] Christine: We were moving back from being abroad for my husband’s career, and I had the luxury and the privilege being able to [00:10:45] focus 100% of my attention to the caregiving of that person, but not a day went by that I didn’t think about what would a mother, a person in this position do if they didn’t have that position of [00:11:00] privilege?
[00:11:01] Christine: It would be a torture for the caregiver. To be able to not give the best of themselves to the person that they’re caregiving for, and it would not offer the optimal care for the person that needs that support. So all too [00:11:15] often, whether it’s healthcare practitioners or the system forgets the very, very important role that the caregiver plays in the long-term outcomes of the person suffering from the condition.
[00:11:27] Christine: So more support, more understanding of [00:11:30] that caregiver is good for everybody. Stake puts everybody back on track faster, and it’s healthier for the caregiver and the person suffering and the person that they’re caregiving for.
[00:11:40] Brent: Thank you, Christine. I think that sparked even more thoughts in my head in terms [00:11:45] of an Ursula, maybe for one of our, certainly for one of our future podcasts, and even more dedicated conversation around caregivers and maybe bringing in someone that represents large groups of caregivers.
[00:11:55] Brent: But I think that there’s the personal impact. There’s also the healthcare impact and the [00:12:00] broader economic impact because as you say, you were in a situation where you could take time to. Be that primary caregiver and we all end up being caregivers at some point in our life on multiple occasions. Yes.
[00:12:11] Brent: Thank you for that. So I guess maybe a question for you, [00:12:15] is there anything you want the listeners to take away to remember, or to keep top of mind?
[00:12:19] Christine: Absolutely. I would say that in the current healthcare crisis that we’re in Canada or healthcare system is suffering, especially post COVID, it really behooves us all to make every [00:12:30] effort to make every dollar spent on healthcare count.
[00:12:34] Christine: The best way to do this is to fully understand the patient and caregiver perspective. They must be at the table at every step of the decision making process.
[00:12:43] Ursula: Christine, thanks for sharing [00:12:45] some extensive professional experience that you had. And I know your life changed when life happened with family, and you had personal experience as a patient and caregiver in a very significant way.
[00:12:57] Ursula: You could have chosen to do a number of things with your time. [00:13:00] What made you join us and what would you like to share with your learners as to why you were at Patient Voice Partners? There are a number
[00:13:05] Christine: of things that I love about patient voice Partners. First of all, it’s because the person, patient voice partners, what you said so yourself as what motivated you [00:13:15] to start patient voice partners.
[00:13:17] Christine: And that resonated with me because we had been through the same experience. We saw the need to. Have that patient at the table every step of the way, and so that was the first thing that grabbed me. [00:13:30] What I love about patient voice partners also is that each of us has a certain area of expertise, whether it’s government relations, whether it’s medical writing, whether it’s commercialization or patient stakeholder engagement, whatever it is.
[00:13:44] Christine: We [00:13:45] have been in the shoes of a lot of our clients, and so we understand what. They need to do to be successful, but we also understand the broader perspective. And because all of us have that area of [00:14:00] the specialty, we bring all of that experience to the table. In my experience, when I was a business unit leader, usually vendors would have one particular area where they were really good at, but I hate to say it all too often, they were a one trick pony, whereas we bring all of [00:14:15] that breath to the table.
[00:14:17] Christine: So I find it very interesting to work with the team, and I love what we do, and we are really trying to bring the voice of the patient at the table every step of the way in all [00:14:30] areas of the entire healthcare ecosystem. Christine,
[00:14:34] Ursula: thank you so much for sharing, and I could spend hours diving into more information about everything on your personal experience, but it’s an honor for me to be able to spend.
[00:14:43] Ursula: Time with you. I [00:14:45] know that we go many years back, also having you as a co-host on future episodes of Amplify. I’m excited for our listeners to be able to dive in with us and learn even more. So thank you for sharing your professional experience, your personal experience as a patient [00:15:00] caregiver. Your passion for talking to multi partners and ensuring that everybody has a seat at the table.
[00:15:06] Ursula: Thanks so much.
[00:15:11] Ursula: Thanks for tuning into Amplify a podcast powered by [00:15:15] Patient Voice Partners. If today’s story moved, you share it, leave a review. And help us amplify more voices.
[00:15:22] Brent: If you’re a patient or caregiver, you can join Patient Voice Connect To share your experience and help shape research and care, visit [00:15:30] patient voice partners.com to sign up or learn more.
[00:15:33] Ursula: If you’re a clinician, advocate, innovator, or system leader, and you’d like to be a guest on the show or share a story, reach out directly through the contact form on that same page. [00:15:45] You’re also welcome to join anonymously if preferred.
[00:15:47] Brent: Follow us on LinkedIn at Patient Voice Partners for updates behind the scenes content and to meet our upcoming guests.
[00:15:54] Ursula: Until next time, stay connected. Your voice [00:16:00] matters.