BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.5//EN TZID:America/Phoenix X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Phoenix BEGIN:VEVENT UID:2038@azbio.org DTSTART;TZID=America/Phoenix:20261009T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/Phoenix:20261009T120000 DTSTAMP:20260922T222900Z URL:https://www.azbio.org/events/voice-of-the-patient-3 SUMMARY:Voice of The Patient - Virginia G. Piper Auditorium\, Biomedical Ca mpus - 9 Oct 26 09:00 DESCRIPTION:\nPatients are the reason we do what we do. \;\nJoin us for a conversation on life science innovation from the patient perspective.&n bsp\; \;\nFriday\, October 9\, 2026\n\n9 AM - \; 12 PM\n\nVirginia G Piper Auditorium\n\n550 E. Van Buren Street\, Phoenix\, AZ 85004\nREGIS TER\nThere is no cost for Attendee Registration.\n\nParking is recommended in the PBC Garage located at 5th St. and Filmore Street next to TGen.\n\n Learn more about parking options and fees.\n\nFor more information on supp orting partner opportunities\, please see below.\nAgenda \;\nProduced in partnership with Arizona’s patient advocacy community\, Voice of the Patient brings \;together people who are living with acute and chronic health challenges to share their life experiences with life science and h ealthcare leaders. \; All speakers at Voice of the Patient are patient s and patient advocates sharing their experiences and what they need from us in the future.\n\n9:00 AM \;  \;Registration and Networking\n\n 9:30 AM \;  \; Program Begins \;\n\n Welcome - Joan Koerber - Walker\n Mary Kay Turner and Lisa WintonLi\, MD\n Emerald Bell and Melis sa Herbst-Kralovetz\, PhD\n Thomas S. Hunt\n Cooper Groppenbacher and Ay den Hall with Joan Koerber-Walker\n Lanette Kirk-Veres\n Zachary S. Broo ks\, PhD\n Pat Elliott with Joan Koerber-Walker\n\n11:30 AM \; Networ king\n\n12:00 \; PM \; Program Concludes\nSPEAKERS\nMore Patient V oices Coming Soon\nEmerald Bell\n \;\nEmerald Bell brings 20 years of experience in healthcare\, including 15 years as a registered nurse. In 20 24\, she successfully defended her Ph.D. in Nursing at the University of A rizona\, where her research explored the complex interplay between the mic robiome\, endometriosis\, and co-occurring anxiety. \;Her professional and academic expertise became deeply personal in 2026\, when she was diag nosed with stage IV endometriosis. This experience has further strengthene d her commitment to advancing awareness\, research\, and understanding of endometriosis and its far-reaching impact on women’s health.\n \;\nZ ach Brooks\n\nZachary S. Brooks\, PhD is the Founder &\; CEO of UGenome \, a University of Arizona startup\, and a 2-time kidney transplant recipi ent. Discovering that he had a condition that caused his kidneys to fail w asn't in the plan but then helping others get better treatment options bec ame his mission. \;\n\n \;\n\n \;\n\n \;\n\nPat Elliott\n\ n\n\n \;\n\nPat Elliott\, a two-time cancer survivor\, is an internati onal patient advocate. A former multi-media journalist and communications executive for global technology firms and large hospital systems\, she pro vides online support for 16\,000 cancer patients\, a world class oncologis t\, and a global team of patients and physicians collaborating to develop a cure for her rare leukemia.\n\n \;\n\n \;\n\nCooper Groppenbache r\n\nMy name is Cooper Groppenbacher\, I recently graduated from Northern Arizona University and have lived in Arizona my whole life. As a person wh o was diagnosed with severe Crohn’s disease at the age of ten\, I spent most of my later childhood and early adulthood learning to navigate the ho ops and difficulties that come with having Crohn’s. After exhausting sev eral oral medications\, I was put on a biologic and that medicine changed my life. After several years that medication became less effective and I w as then put on a different biologic. Both biologic medications have allowe d me to live a life that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible.\n\n  \;\n\nAyden Hall\n\n\n\n \;\n\nMelissa Herbst-Kralovetz\, PhD\n\nMelis sa Herbst-Kralovetz\, PhD\, is a tenured Professor at the University of Ar izona College of Medicine–Phoenix and Director of the Translational Wome n’s Health Research Program\, where she leads multidisciplinary research focused on women’s health and disease. Her research investigates the mi crobiome and molecular mechanisms underlying cervical cancer\, endometrial cancer\, endometriosis and other gynecologic conditions\, with an emphasi s on developing noninvasive approaches to diagnosis and clinical translati on. Her work bridges basic science\, clinical research\, and commercializa tion to advance innovative diagnostics and improve women’s health outcom es.\n\nTom Hunt\n\nThomas S. Hunt is a strategic operations leader\, trans lating complex\, multi-faceted business challenges into actionable solutio ns. His career spans CEO\, VP-level strategist\, and Director of Special P rojects roles where he consistently bridged leadership teams\, technical s pecialists\, and capital partners to drive high-stakes decisions in ambigu ous environments. \; In 2020\, Tom faced a health challenge that spark ed a time of transformation and rebirth. \; Tom contracted a virus tha t over just a few months destroyed his heart and gave him severe pulmonary embolims in both lungs. His patient journey began at the Banner hospital\ , in Tucson\, AZ and then to the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix to to be evaluated for a heart transplant. \; What came next did more that save his life \, it transformed it.\n\nJoan Koerber-Walker\, President &\; CEO\, AZBi o\n\n\n\nJoan Koerber-Walker\, is a wife\, mother\, grandmother\, and pati ent advocate. She also serves as president and CEO of AZBio and as chairma n of the board of the Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation. The se two organizations have come together to create AZAdvances. Its mission is to support the creation and of Arizona-based health innovations. The te am is working to create a sustainable solution to address the need for ear ly-stage life science funding for researchers and companies in Arizona and developing the programs they need to succeed. The goal is to help develop and deliver the treatments and cures that patients are waiting for.\n\n&n bsp\;\n\nMary Kay Turner \;\n\n\n\nMary Kay Turner built her career in biopharma\, first with a large pharmaceutical company supporting some of the industry’s most successful medicines and now with a biotechnology co mpany advancing regenerative medicine for ALS. Her work has consistently c onnected science\, advocacy and access\, with a focus on making sure patie nts help shape the therapies intended for them. This year\, that mission b ecame personal when Mary Kay was diagnosed with breast cancer. After years of helping bring medicines to patients\, she became the patient — facin g surgery\, treatment decisions\, side effects and the uncertainty that ac companies a cancer diagnosis. That experience has sharpened her perspectiv e on what patient-centered care really means: not simply treating disease\ , but listening to the person living through it.\n\nLanette Veres\, Founde r &\; Survivor\, Gray Matters Foundation\n\n\n\nLanette Kirk-Veres is a 28-year brain tumor \; survivor and founder of Gray Matters Foundatio n. Her connection to brain cancer began six years before her own diagnosis \, when her grandmother died from the disease\, giving her both a caregive r and patient perspective. For more than two decades\, Lanette has support ed patients\, survivors and caregivers while building relationships with h ealthcare professionals and researchers advancing brain tumor care. She is passionate about bringing the patient voice to those conversations and co nnecting those living with brain cancer with those working to understand a nd treat it. Lanette believes patients and caregivers should have a voice at the table.\n\n \;\n\nLisa WintonLi\, M.D.\n\n\n\nDr. WintonLi's exp ertise includes the diagnosis of both breast cancer and benign breast dise ase along with management of patients at high risk of developing breast ca ncer. She is dedicated to applying a compassionate and personalized approa ch to each patient and ensuring excellence in oncologic and surgical outco mes. She is board certified in General Surgery and completed advanced fell owship training in Surgical Breast Oncology. Dr. WintonLi received her deg ree from The Ohio State University and she completed her residency trainin g in General Surgery at Maricopa Integrated Health System and a fellowship in Surgical Breast Oncology at University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas \, Texas.\nVoice of the Patient stories from past years are featured here. \n\n\n\nThank you to our supporting partner organizations\n \n\nPlease con tact AZBio For more information on sponsor opportunities. CATEGORIES:AZ - Central LOCATION:Virginia G. Piper Auditorium\, Biomedical Campus\, 550 E. Van Bure n\, Buiding 2\, Phoenix\, AZ\, 85003\, United States GEO:33.4513;-112.012 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=550 E. Van Buren\, Buiding 2\, Phoenix\, AZ\, 85003\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Virgin ia G. Piper Auditorium\, Biomedical Campus:geo:33.4513,-112.012 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Phoenix X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Phoenix BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251009T090000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:MST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR