For this episode of Karger's The Waiting Room Podcast, we spoke with Konstantina Boumaki. She is a medical doctor with 19 years of experience in patient advocacy. Since her diagnosis with type 1 diabetes in 2005, she has been a passionate advocate, leading numerous projects to improve patient engagement and health outcomes. With regard to this year's World Diabetes Day we talked about her patient journey and her work as a patient advocate.

For more podcast episodes from Karger visit https://www.karger.com/pages/podcasts.

For this episode of Karger's The Waiting Room Podcast, we spoke with Abby Match. She was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer at the age of 35 in 2020. After the diagnosis she became a breast cancer advocate as well as a board member of the US-based non-profit organization Living Beyond Breast Cancer in 2023.

We spoke about her patient journey with breast cancer, her work as a patient advocate as well as Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.

For more podcast episodes from Karger visit https://www.karger.com/pages/podcasts.

For the first episode of season 5 of Karger's The Waiting Room Podcast, we spoke with Alastair Boyle. He was diagnosed with myelodysplasia, a type of blood cancer, in 2008 and eventually had to retire from his work as a firefighter in 2014. Ally then focused on patient and public involvement and providing input to charities, research studies and committees, for example, by serving as a Trustee for Blood Cancer UK.

We spoke about his experiences with blood cancer, his work as a patient advocate and trustee as well as Blood Cancer Awareness Month in September.

If you are looking for more detailed information on the signs and symptoms of blood cancer, follow this link to the section of the Blood Cancer UK website which discusses them and has a video talking about what to look out for.

For more podcast episodes from Karger visit https://www.karger.com/pages/podcasts.

For this episode of Karger's The Waiting Room Podcast, we spoke with Roger Wilson. He is a sarcoma patient, patient advocate, founder of Sarcoma UK, as well as Honorary President and active Board member of the Sarcoma Patient Advocacy Global Network (SPAGN).

We talked about his patient journey with soft tissue sarcoma, his work as a patient advocate as well as Sarcoma Awareness Month in July, with this year's motto being "The importance of early and correct diagnosis".

Since being diagnosed with a soft tissue sarcoma in 1999, Roger has undergone ten operations, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. He currently works with a range of organizations and academic research groups in the UK and Europe. Furthermore, he has honorary doctorates from the Universities of Sheffield and Lancaster in the UK.

For this episode of Karger's The Waiting Room Podcast, we spoke with Mary Lynne Van Poelgeest-Pomfret. She is the President of the WFIPP, the World Federation of Incontinence and Pelvic Problems. We discussed incontinence/leakage and pelvic problems, the aspect of quality of life, stigma and mental health, as well as the upcoming World Continence Week, which is held from June 17–23, 2024.

Lynne is also a long-time international patient advocate and a member of various scientific advisory committees and panels. Furthermore, she is a member of several patient advocacy movements and organizations such as IAPO (International Alliance of Patient Organizations) and EPF (European Patients' Forum). Lynne has a BA degree from the UK and a Drs. degree from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

For more podcast episodes from Karger visit https://www.karger.com/pages/podcasts.

For this episode of Karger's The Waiting Room Podcast, we spoke with cancer survivor and patient advocate Naniki Seboni about her experiences of being diagnosed with stage 3 malignant melanoma at the age of 25. We also discussed what should be done regarding prevention, screening and awareness of skin cancer – not only in her native country of South Africa, via the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), but also in the rest of the world.

Please note that Skin Cancer Awareness Month is held in May each year.

For more podcast episodes from Karger visit https://www.karger.com/pages/podcasts.

For this episode of Karger's The Waiting Room Podcast, we spoke with Jessica Settle about her experience of being diagnosed with colorectal cancer at the age of 28.

Jessica is the dedicated mother of a 12-year-old daughter. She is advocating for colon cancer awareness and spreading hope wherever she goes.

Please note that Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month is held in March each year.

Published in February 2024, Karger's latest patients' resource on colorectal cancer is freely available here.

For more podcast episodes from Karger visit https://www.karger.com/pages/podcasts.

For this episode of Karger's The Waiting Room Podcast, we spoke with Emily Lewis about Rare Disease Day on February 29, and how artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies could help patients living with a rare disease.

Emily (Kunka) Lewis, MS, CCRP, CHES is an opinion leader in the digital transformation of healthcare. She is driven by a desire for the democratization of modern medicine. Emily received a Master of Science in Clinical Research from Northwestern University. She is currently working as a Digital Transformation Project Lead at UCB.

For more podcast episodes from Karger visit https://www.karger.com/pages/podcasts.