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Not Just Patients
Hi! We’re Caitlin Rich and Clarinda Cerejo, Co-Hosts of Not Just Patients, a global podcast that aims to bring stakeholders together and break barriers to meaningful patient involvement in healthcare.
We both live with rare diseases, are EUPATI Fellows, and work in healthcare research and communications. Over the past two and a half years, we have hosted in-depth conversations with a range of healthcare stakeholders to examine how healthcare can become more inclusive, collaborative, and effective.
We were recently interviewed by the World Medical Journal, won the Acquisition International Non-Profit Organisation Award for Excellence in Driving Patient Engagement 2025, and were named Patient Advocacy Podcast of the Year in the Corporate LiveWire Awards 2025/2026.
Our guests are patient advocates, healthcare professionals, industry representatives, and other stakeholders who interact with the health system at large. Each of our guests brings in a unique perspective on patient engagement and shares stories of initiatives they’ve championed or been involved in.
We will soon be launching a special series on Underserved Communities in Healthcare. The series will explore what meaningful patient involvement looks like for communities that healthcare systems too often fail to adequately see, hear, or design for. This includes children and young patients, disabled and neurodivergent people, LGBTQIA+ communities, racial and ethnic minorities, and people from lower- to middle-income countries.
Have feedback or suggestions for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at info@notjustpatients.com or find us on LinkedIn.
Not Just Patients
Creating Space for Patients in Medical Publishing | Emma Doble
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Joining Caitlin and Clarinda for this episode of Not Just Patients is Emma Doble, Patient and Public Strategy Editor at The BMJ, for a powerful conversation about what it really means to embed patients in medical publishing in more than just name.
Emma leads the BMJ’s patient partnership strategy across the journal and BMJ Group, including the What Your Patient Is Thinking series, patient and public partnership at BMJ events, and support for over 70 BMJ Group journals. She was awarded a Made with Patients Award by the Patient Engagement Open Forum for her work, is a visiting lecturer at King’s College London, and an independent patient advocate advising universities, governments, and NGOs on patient partnership.
Drawing on both her professional experience and her personal journey living with type 1 diabetes since childhood, Emma offers an inside look at how one of the world’s leading medical journals has shifted from “managing informed patients” to recognizing patients as experts and partners in research, governance, and editorial decision-making.
Join us as we demystify medical publications, explore the BMJ’s patient partnership strategy, discuss the culture change required to bring patients into an “ivory tower” space, and break down what true patient involvement could look like for both patients and publishers.
Chapters
00:00:00 - Introductions and episode overview
00:01:55 - Understanding the medical publishing process
00:08:00 - The BMJ's Patient Partnership Programme
00:12:31 - Breaking into the 'ivory tower'
00:15:33 - Value of patient involvement in medical publishing
00:20:08 - Emma's personal story and career path
00:27:36 - Avenues and qualifications for patient involvement
00:34:32 - Increased acceptance of patients as authors
00:39:52 - Barriers to patient involvement
00:44:17 - Initiatives to help patients get involved
00:48:25 - Emma's long-term dream for medical publishing
00:52:00 - Emma's advice for patients, journals, and publishers
00:54:50 - Reflections with Caitlin and Clarinda
Resources and abbreviations
- BMJ – The British Medical Journal (and BMJ Group)
- BMJ patient and public partnership homepage
- Patient Engagement Open Forum (PEOF)
- Caitlin and Clarinda's featured interview in the World Medical Journal
- BMJ What Your Patient Is Thinking Series
- Emma's original article in the What Your Patient is Thinking Series
- ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) authorship criteria
- The BMJ patient and public reviewer sign up
- Journal of Patient Experience
- Journal of Patient Centricity [Disclosure: Clarinda is on the Editorial Board]
- Cochrane
Let us know what you thought of this episode
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Website: notjustpatients.com
LinkedIn: Not Just Patients
Instagram: @notjustpatients
Substack: https://notjustpatients.substack.com/
Have feedback or suggestions? We'd love to hear from you.
Email: info@notjustpatients.com
