Leadership Lessons: Driving Innovation to Support Patients and Sites

Barry Nelson has been a resident of Boston for over thirty years and has deep ties to the local community. A retired risk management professional, with credentialing for business continuity and disaster recovery planning, Mr Nelson has a background in technology that extends across multiple industries, including financial services and banking, airlines, and government contracting.Since 2012, Mr Nelson has served as a patient experience presenter and patient advisor and he regularly participates in patient and family centered conferences, patient experience panels, and other events where he discusses opportunities for improving long-term health care outcomes. Mr Nelson has participated on multiple research initiatives that focus on patient centered outcomes and healthcare improvements at the Brigham and Women’s Center for Patients and Families and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Mr Nelson’s spirit of activism is centered on his Christian faith and he is the co-chair of the “Somebody Prayed For Me, Let Us Pray with You” weekly prayer call.As a patient volunteer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Center for Patients and Families, Mr Nelson supports several Patient Family Advisory Councils, Steering Committees, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Initiatives (PCORI), and other research goals focused on patient care and engagement. Mr Nelson also volunteers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and provides support for marketing, fundraising, and community outreach.Mr Nelson is a volunteer and board member for common cathedral, a nonprofit faith organization focused on the homeless community, providing weekly worship on the Boston Common, Street Ministry, educational outreach program to youth and their support entities.

Judy Sewards currently serves as the Vice President, Head of Clinical Trial Experience and Participant Recruitment at Pfizer.  In this role, Ms Sewards leads a team responsible for designing and delivering new communications and services that provide ease and convenience for more than 6,000 clinical trial sites around the globe and over 100,000 participants who graciously join Pfizer’s trials every year to help advance potential medical breakthroughs. She also stewards the company’s equity commitment to diversity in clinical trials and is launching novel enrolment strategies to help address access barriers and accelerate clinical development, focusing on new ways that engage participants within each investigator’s practice, institution, and community.Ms Sewards was formerly Vice President, Digital Innovation in Pfizer’s Strategy & Commercial Operations organization, where she set and activated new digital and big data strategies to help the enterprise meet business and customer needs in the future health landscape. Prior to that, she held a number of leadership positions within Pfizer’s commercial organization, including Team Leader for the U.S. Celebrex and Flector Patch businesses, Head of the Primary Care Marketing Innovation Incubator, and Consumer Lead for the iconic Viagra brand.Before joining Pfizer, Ms Sewards led insights, brand strategy and advertising at Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management. Her other diverse experience ranges from tech start-up to brand advertising and management consulting.  Ms Sewards received her bachelor’s degree from Smith College, where she also served as a member of the Board of Trustees.