This year we have selected three more stars of healthcare engagement – people who brought significant change in 2010.

Each year we highlight the people who have made a significant impact in healthcare engagement. Whilst last year’s People in Healthcare Engagement have all continued to innovate, this year we have selected three more stars of healthcare engagement – people who brought significant change in 2010.

As always, these are not ranked – they’re here for different reasons but they’ve all been making a big difference and are inspiring those around them.

Dave deBronkart

“I’m committed to a world where healthcare works better – and not just for patients but for the people whose work is to deliver care”, says Dave deBronkart, or ‘e-Patient Dave’ as he is fondly known.

Dave deBronkart personifies how the Internet has changed healthcare over the past few years. His book, ‘Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig’, published in 2010, in which he shares his incredible journey beating Stage IV cancer, is a testimony to the power of the Internet to change lives. It is also a powerful resource not only for patients but for healthcare stakeholders to learn from.

Alex Butler

“There is a dramatic change in that pharmaceutical companies now openly admit that they have to engage online, in a social media setting, whereas only six to twelve months ago it was a small group of passionate people who believed that”, said Alex Butler in March 2010.

Over the past year, Janssen’s Digital Strategy & Social Media Manager Alex Butler has not only been actively involved in pioneering award-winning healthcare engagement strategies but has also proactively challenged his pharmaceutical industry peers to think intelligently about how they use emerging channels. As he said at the start of 2011, “Nobody should pat themselves on the back for having a Twitter account – who cares? It’s what you do with it that matters.”

Sabine Kostevc

For many pharmaceutical professionals involved in healthcare engagement, the launch of Roche’s social media guidelines in August 2010 marked a milestone in the growth of the industry’s use of digital channels. But Sabine Kostevc’s role in leading the development and publishing of those social media guidelines as Head of Internet and Social Media at Roche was also a much-needed stimulus for dialogue that spurred other industry leaders into action.

Asked how pharmaceutical companies changed their approach to social media in 2010, she says that there has been a shift in activity, led by non-US companies. “I’d say that they definitely got more active and open, especially the non-US based companies which seem to have taken the lead with real dialogue like enabling comments on Facebook, Youtube, blogs, and giving responses. Maybe that’s because they are used to communicating within regulatory restrictions.”

For your impact on healthcare engagement, Dave deBronkart; Alex Butler; and Sabine Kostevc, we award you the Healthcare Engagement Strategy 2011 People in Healthcare Engagement Award.

Read about other winners of the Healthcare Engagement Strategy Awards 2011.

Contact Creation Healthcare to discuss your views and find out how their insights into healthcare engagement can help you achieve better health outcomes.