Redesigning patient experience: Insights, innovation, and human-centred care

Dr Shaimaa Mahmoud

Dr. Shaimaa Abdelaal is an accomplished healthcare executive with over 18 years of progressive experience leading health systems transformation, patient experience (PX), monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and quality management (ISO 9001) across Egypt’s national health reform initiatives. Currently serving as a manager and lead expert within the Egypt Healthcare Authority (EHA) under the Universal Health Insurance (UHI) system, she has pioneered the design and operationalization of national patient satisfaction and performance framework measurement systems. Throughout her distinguished career, which includes prominent senior roles at the Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP), Dr. Abdelaal has successfully directed large-scale, donor-funded healthcare projects backed by the World Bank, USAID, and AFD. Her strategic oversight has driven critical national performance metrics, including maintaining a 91% patient satisfaction index, executing highly efficient grievance resolution systems, and significantly optimizing cross-facility clinical referral chains through digital health innovation. Holding an MBA, an M.Sc. in Health Economics, and multiple international expert certifications, she is widely recognized as a senior national healthcare trainer who has built organizational capacity for thousands of multidisciplinary professionals across Egypt’s transforming healthcare landscape.

Ms Angels Gonzalez

Àngels González García is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Project Manager and Specialist at Hospital Clínic Barcelona, with more than 15 years of experience in sustainability, social responsibility and stakeholder engagement across the healthcare and consulting sectors.

She leads and coordinates initiatives that integrate sustainability, social commitment and patient-centred care into the hospital’s strategic framework, including projects aligned with the UN Global Compact, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Hospital Clínic Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy.

Her work combines sustainability, social innovation and community engagement. She actively contributes to the Amics del Clínic Volunteer Programme, promoting the role of volunteers as key partners in enhancing patient experience. She also participates in initiatives aimed at supporting vulnerable groups and strengthening citizen participation in healthcare.

Àngels is also involved in the Hospital Clínic Arts in Health Programme, which uses arts and culture as tools to improve wellbeing, humanise care environments and foster meaningful connections between patients, professionals and the community. In addition, she represents the hospital in sector-wide sustainability and CSR networks and regularly contributes to conferences and knowledge-sharing activities on sustainability and social responsibility.

Ms Jolene Lee

Jolene Lee is Head of the Planning Section in Service Operations at the National University Hospital (NUH), Singapore. She played a key role in setting up the Service Operations Planning function, establishing an integrated approach to planning across clinical and operational teams to improve patient experience and system performance.

She brings a strong focus on using data to drive service improvement. She translates patient feedback, operational data, and behavioural insights into concrete changes in workflows, access, and care coordination. Her work includes the use of AI-enabled feedback systems to identify service gaps in near real time and digital wayfinding solutions to reduce navigation delays and missed appointments.

With prior leadership experience in oncology operations at the National University Cancer Institute, she leads multi-institutional initiatives that improve patient flow and reduce friction across the patient journey. Her work has strengthened end-to-end coordination, enabled more targeted service recovery, and supported more consistent patient experience across care settings.

Jolene leads multidisciplinary teams and drives implementation at system level. She is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration.

Dr James Merlino

James I. Merlino, MD, is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Joint Commission. He oversees enterprise operations, strategic initiatives, and Joint Commission International, helping ensure the organization’s programs, services, and global activities are aligned to advance healthcare quality and patient safety worldwide. Dr. Merlino plays a key role in guiding operational performance and supporting the evolution of Joint Commission’s offerings to meet the needs of healthcare organizations and patients. Previously holding executive roles at the Cleveland Clinic and Press Ganey, he is widely recognized for his leadership in patient safety, quality improvement, and healthcare transformation.

Dr Adrian Stanley, PhD FRCP SFHEA

Adrian Stanley graduated from Southampton University, UK and completed his early clinical training in Southampton, London and Leicester. He was a British Heart Foundation Junior Fellow before completing his academic and clinical training as a Clinical Lecturer in Medicine. His research interests were focused on vascular biology and clinical hypertension, before developing an interest in medical education.

He achieved his CCST in general internal medicine and clinical pharmacology in 2005.
From 2005 to 2018, he was a consultant physician, medical educator and researcher in Leicester. For the final 6 years, he was the Director for the undergraduate MBChB Clinical Clerkships.

From 2019, Adrian has been in Dubai. Until recently, he was the Clerkship Director at Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, where he led the introduction of the clinical clerkship curriculum and assessment. Since February 2024, he has been the Chief Academic Officer at Mediclinic Middle East.

Ms Sandra Milena Tocarema-Olarte

A nurse specializing in cardiorespiratory nursing and holding a Master’s degree in Health Economics, she possesses over 20 years of hospital-based experience, including eight years in strategic leadership roles. Her career encompasses clinical management, strategic planning, and organizational development, with extensive experience in hospital growth projects and structural transformation processes within high-acuity institutions.

She is an expert in transformational leadership, structural empowerment, and exemplary professional practice, with a focus on human talent management—addressing turnover, engagement, retention, succession planning, performance evaluation, workforce demographics, and the building of high-performance teams. She has spearheaded strategies centered on equity, inclusion, sustainability, and workplace well-being as pillars of a robust organizational culture. As a researcher specializing in nurse staffing based on patient acuity and the cost-effectiveness analysis of tele-guidance models, she brings both technical and economic perspectives to the Magnet® model.