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Show Notes
The debut episode of Amplify: Elevating Patient Voices sets the stage for a new kind of healthcare conversation—one where patients, caregivers, clinicians, and decision makers all have a seat at the table.
Hosts Ursula Mann, Principal & Chief Patient Officer at Patient Voice Partners, and Brent Korte, a longtime healthcare leader and advocate, share the story behind Patient Voice Partners and introduce the vision for this new podcast.
Episode Highlights
- [00:00:00]Â What happens when everyone in healthcare is truly heard?
- [00:01:00] Why patient voice can’t be an afterthought—and how it’s reshaping systems.
- [00:02:21]Â Ursula and Brent on founding Patient Voice Partners and building inclusive frameworks.
- [00:02:55]Â Meet the co-host team: Barry Liden, Christine Pisapia, and Anne Marie Hayes.
- [00:03:43]Â How Patient Voice Partners collaborates with pharma, nonprofits, health systems, and researchers.
- [00:04:01] Introducing Patient Voice Connect, a free platform where patients and caregivers contribute to research, service design, and even join the podcast.
- [00:04:39] Why Amplify is designed for reflection, discomfort, inspiration, and action.
- [00:05:05]Â An open invitation: share your story, get involved, and help shape a better healthcare system.
Why listen?
This launch episode introduces Amplify as more than a podcast—it’s a platform for real stories and bold conversations. Some episodes may challenge you, others may inspire you, but all will remind you that stories are systems—and patient voice drives change.
Want to Share Your Voice?
If you’re a patient or caregiver, you can join Patient Voice Connect to share your experiences and help shape healthcare HERE.
Join our email list to get new episode updates here.
Together, we can bring more voices to the table and shape the future of healthcare.
Share this episode, leave a review, and follow Patient Voice Partners on LinkedIn to help amplify more voices.
Ursula MannÂ
Principal and Chief Patient Officer (CPO)Â
Ursula Mann is a healthcare leader focused on integrating multi-stakeholder perspectives into innovation development and improving disease management. As Chief Patient Officer, she leads strategic partnerships and supports Patient Voice Connect as the Global Patient Engagement Officer. She is also the Co-Founder and Executive Managing Director of TOWWERS Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to operationalizing value-based pricing in healthcare. With experience spanning pharmaceutical commercial, medical, and market access sectors, Ursula brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her work. She has led pioneering scientific collaborations and established gold-standard real-world evidence initiatives, earning global recognition as a thought leader in stakeholder engagement.Â
Brent KorteÂ
PrincipalÂ
Brent Korte brings over 25 years of healthcare industry experience, specializing in amplifying patient voices and integrating stakeholder insights into strategic initiatives. His expertise spans public policy, market access, reimbursement, and strategy development throughout Canada. Working across multiple therapeutic areas including oncology, immunology, biologics, and rare diseases, Brent excels at building consensus among diverse stakeholders. He actively serves the community as Chair of the Alberta Division of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Board Member and Policy Committee Chair for BioAlberta, and Board member of the Canadian Association for Healthcare Reimbursement. Additionally, he volunteers as a coach for the University of Alberta Golden Bears Football team.Â
Transcript
[00:00:00] Ursula Mann: What happens when patients, caregivers, clinicians, and decision makers all get a seat at the table?Â
[00:00:07] Brent Korte: What does healthcare sound like? When everyone has finally heard,Â
[00:00:11] Ursula Mann: welcome to Amplify a podcast poweredÂ
[00:00:14] Brent Korte: by [00:00:15] patient voice partners. We bring forward the stories that move systems and the voices that make it into policy rooms, clinical trials or product design meetings,Â
[00:00:23] Ursula Mann: whether you’re a patient, caregiver. Not-for-profit, government, clinician, industry leader, [00:00:30] or a healthcare change maker. This podcast is for you.
[00:00:39] Ursula Mann: Hi everyone. Welcome to our very first episode of Amplify. I’m Ursula Mann, principal and Chief [00:00:45] patient Officer at Patient Voice Partners. I am so thrilled to be here with my co-host, thought partner, co-founder. Really just an awesome all around guy Brent Korte.Â
[00:00:55] Brent Korte: Thanks, Ursula. Speaking of awesome all around people.
[00:00:57] Brent Korte: I am so excited for this. I’m Brent Korte, a [00:01:00] longtime healthcare leader and advocate for more equitable systems. This podcast is really about making those voices impossible to ignore. Patient voice is needed now more than ever, more care at home challenges within the health system and navigating through the health system and [00:01:15] access to new medications.
[00:01:16] Ursula Mann: And let’s be honest, Brent, patient voice is changing how things are, we’re learning as we’re going and things are becoming better. Amplify is not just a show, it’s a platform. A place where real stories, bold [00:01:30] conversations, and cross-sector voices come together. We are here to elevate the lived experience in healthcare and to challenge the silence that too often surrounds it.
[00:01:39] Ursula Mann: Brent, I have to ask, we’ve been doing this for a little while. Why did you start Patient Waste Partners with me? [00:01:45]Â
[00:01:45] Brent Korte: Great question, and I think there are a couple reasons for it. I think the challenges, like the patient voice has been there and it’s been asked for a number of years, formally and informally. I think one of the challenges is often it’s a little bit late or it’s seen as an afterthought or [00:02:00] certainly perceived that way, and I think the voice of the patient is so important, the lived experience that happens, I think using that gets smarter research, more inclusive care, better systems and so on, rather than a side note.
[00:02:12] Brent Korte: So I think that. It reflects real life, and I [00:02:15] think that was one of the reasons patient voice partners can really amplify that voice.Â
[00:02:21] Ursula Mann: So I agree with everything you said, and I love that we’re looking at systems now to have all groups around the table [00:02:30] and not have things fully baked by the time we’re talking to patients and caregivers.
[00:02:34] Ursula Mann: This is a space to not only hear from patients, but to connect to clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and innovators in real conversation. You’ll hear us say change makers, and if you’re listening to [00:02:45] this, that’s you too.Â
[00:02:46] Brent Korte: So now we’re kicking things off today, but Amplify is not a two person show. We’ve got an incredible team of patient voice partners co-host joining you this season.
[00:02:55] Ursula Mann: Yes. In fact, you are going to meet Barry Liden, a passionate patient [00:03:00] advocate with deep experience shaping national policy and patient engagement at the system level. Christine Pisipia, a caregiver and collaborator in care system transformation. Who brings sharp insight and grounded compassion. And Anne Marie [00:03:15] Hayes, a patient voice leader with lived experience across complex care and service navigation, always asking the questions, others won’t.
[00:03:24] Brent Korte: Yeah, I’m really excited about these. And our next few episodes will actually flip the mic and interview them because the people behind this [00:03:30] podcast are just as powerful as the guests we bring on. So if this is your first time meeting with us, patient Voice Partners is a consultancy. That brings lived experience and strategic insight into healthcare innovation, access and equity.
[00:03:43] Brent Korte: We work with pharma, we work [00:03:45] with health systems, nonprofits, researchers, you name it.Â
[00:03:48] Ursula Mann: And we do it with real partnerships. We do more than interviews and panels. We co-create frameworks, advise on policy and support, end-to-end solution design, and we do that with real peopleÂ
[00:03:59] Brent Korte: early. That’s where [00:04:00] patient voice connect comes in.
[00:04:01] Brent Korte: Ursula like it’s our database and it’s matching tool. Where patients and caregivers can sign up for insight, opportunities, contribute to research or service design, and even join us a honestly here on Amplify. IÂ
[00:04:12] Ursula Mann: think that’s so important to have options, Brent. [00:04:15] It’s free, it’s opt-in and it’s one way to.
[00:04:17] Ursula Mann: Make sure the door stays open for people who lived the gaps in the system and are ready to shape something better and share their voice. We do believe stories are systems and when we listen to journeys and really listen, we uncover. [00:04:30] Or discover gaps, patterns, biases, and really opportunities to better understand and bridges the door to making things different,Â
[00:04:38] Brent Korte: really.
[00:04:39] Brent Korte: And I think that’s why we wanted this to be a conversation, not just interviews. So it’s a conversation is reflection. It’s letting [00:04:45] people really bring their full selves to the mic.Â
[00:04:48] Ursula Mann: Some episodes will make you feel uncomfortable, some will inspire you, some might make you cry or challenge how you think about illness, care, or leadership.
[00:04:56] Ursula Mann: And that’s by design.Â
[00:04:57] Brent Korte: Really the goal isn’t just to listen. The [00:05:00] goal is to do something to act with what you hear, so patient voice changes approach.Â
[00:05:05] Ursula Mann: So for our audience, if you’re listening and thinking, I have a story to share, you do and we wanna hear it.[00:05:15]Â
[00:05:16] Ursula Mann: Thanks for tuning into Amplify A Podcast powered by patient voice partners. If today’s story moved, you share it. Leave a review and help us amplify more voices.Â
[00:05:27] Brent Korte: If you’re a patient or caregiver, you can [00:05:30] join Patient Voice Connect. To share your experience and help shape research and care, visit www.patientvoicepartners.com to sign up or learn moreÂ
[00:05:39] Ursula Mann: if you’re a clinician.
[00:05:41] Ursula Mann: Advocate, innovator or system leader, and you’d like to [00:05:45] be a guest on the show or share a story, reach out directly through the contact form on that same page. You’re also welcome to join Anonymously if preferred.Â
[00:05:54] Brent Korte: Follow us on LinkedIn at Patient Voice Partners for updates behind the scenes content and to meet our upcoming [00:06:00] guests.
[00:06:00] Ursula Mann: Until next time, stay connected. Your voice matters.