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Francesca Granata: What Happens When Patients Become Researchers and Researchers Become Advocates?

Francesca Granata/LinkedIn

Aug 26, 2026, 18:13

Francesca Granata: What Happens When Patients Become Researchers and Researchers Become Advocates?

Francesca Granata, Health Researcher and Contract Biologist at Milan Polyclinic Hospital, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“My interview with Nature Portfolio gave me the opportunity to reflect on a question that goes far beyond my personal story:

What happens when patients become researchers and researchers become advocates?

My journey started with a rare disease. It brought me into science, but over time I understood that producing scientific knowledge was only part of the responsibility I wanted to take on.

Because research cannot stop at the laboratory door.

Today, patient advocacy is much more than being an ‘expert patient’. It means understanding science, communicating evidence, navigating healthcare systems and building bridges between patients, researchers and institutions.

Scientist. Patient. Communicator. Mediator. Advocate.

Not separate identities, but complementary competencies that deserve to be recognised and professionally valued.

Especially in rare diseases, we need to bring patients into research and research beyond the laboratory, closer to patients, healthcare systems and society.

Thank you to Josie Glausiusz and Nature for telling these stories.”

Francesca Granata