Research
Patient preferences, patient experiences and referral journeys analyzed with precision.
Driving insights to optimize health management and streamline care delivery pathways.
Evaluating clinical trial burden and the relevance of proposed outcome measures.
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AI Driven Insights
We participate in research projects to understand how patient engagement might impact quality of life of patients. Over the last years we have worked with several universities and research organisations to increase our knowledge aiming to identify and understand the drivers of patient empowerment for specific patient populations.
Understanding drivers which fuel patient empowerment might help the research community to come up with novel initiatives to assist patients in their patient pathway. These drivers will depend on context, patient profile and therapeutic area, including healthcare system.
Qualitative & Quantitative Research
The most impactful healthcare decisions are grounded in a genuine understanding of patient needs, preferences, and lived experience. We design and facilitate research programmes that capture both the richness of individual insight and the statistical confidence of population-level data — giving your team the evidence to act with clarity and purpose.
“The patient voice doesn’t complement the evidence — it is the evidence.”
When the numbers alone don’t tell the full story, qualitative methods surface the nuance behind patient behaviour, decision-making, and unmet needs. We design and facilitate structured conversations that generate insights you can act on.
Methods include
Patient Advisory Boards
Structured group sessions with patients, caregivers, or advocates to explore perspectives on disease, treatment, or research design
In-depth Patient Interviews
One-to-one conversations that uncover lived experience, care pathway gaps, and the emotional dimensions of treatment decisions
Patient Journey Mapping
Collaborative mapping of the full care trajectory — from first symptoms to long-term management — identifying friction points and unmet needs at every stage
Focus Groups
Facilitated group discussions to explore attitudes, language, and shared experiences across a defined patient population
Protocol & Material Co-creation
Working directly with patients to review and adapt clinical trial protocols, informed consent forms, or educational materials before deployment
Scale your patient insights with structured data collection methodologies that generate statistically meaningful evidence. From treatment preference studies to patient-reported outcome measures, we design surveys and instruments that answer the questions your strategy teams and payers need answered.
Methods include
Patient Preference Studies
Discrete choice experiments and conjoint analyses that quantify which treatment attributes matter most to patients — powering shared decision tools and market access submissions
Survey-based Patient Insights
Large-scale structured surveys to measure awareness, treatment satisfaction, adherence drivers, and quality of life across patient populations
Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)
Validated instrument deployment and longitudinal tracking to capture how patients experience their condition and treatment over time
Needs Assessment Surveys
Systematic identification of unmet medical, informational, and support needs across defined disease areas or patient subgroups
Real-World Evidence Generation
Observational data collection through digital tools to build evidence on treatment patterns, outcomes, and patient experience outside of clinical trials
Esperity Health
Tracking patient outcomes
Esperity Health is a configurable digital research platform that captures patient data, automates study protocols, and tracks engagement throughout the entire study lifecycle — giving research teams the infrastructure to run patient-centric studies without the operational overhead.
01
Build custom questionnaires, PRO instruments, and data capture forms directly within the platform. Whether validated scales or bespoke measures, deploy them to any patient cohort with full version control and audit trail.
02
The moment a patient is onboarded, their protocol activates automatically. Content, assessments, reminders, and data capture triggers fire at the right intervals — without manual coordination. Your study runs precisely as designed, at any scale.
03
Capture longitudinal patient data across symptoms, quality of life, treatment adherence, and self-reported health parameters. Build a comprehensive picture of each patient's journey over time — the kind of real-world evidence that informs both clinical and regulatory decisions.
04
Track completion rates, response times, and dropout risk across your entire participant cohort from one dashboard. Automated alerts flag disengaged patients before they become lost to follow-up — protecting study integrity and timeline.
05
Your study team gets a real-time overview of participant status, data completeness, and key outcome trends — with structured export options for statistical analysis. GDPR-compliant by design, with role-based access throughout.
06
Unlike pure data capture tools, Esperity Health also delivers educational content to participants as part of the study experience — supporting informed consent, reducing dropout, and ensuring patients understand the relevance of their contribution.
The aim of READi is to foster a more holistic, integrated system around clinical studies that will support the inclusion of patients usually underserved and underrepresented, and ultimately transform the way clinical studies are carried out in Europe.
Learn moreEVOSST is a groundbreaking Horizon project that empowers public and private stakeholders to advance social services through cutting-edge research, innovative digital tools (AI and VR), and evidence-based policy frameworks.
Learn moreThis project is a research project to understand drivers of perceived disease management control for patients on Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy (PERT). During a 18 month period, 60 patients with a pancreas resection will be followed.
Learn moreThis project is an Innoviris funded project in collaboration with the University of Brussels VUB, UZ Brussel and Erasme Hospital to develop novel methods to educate patients with COPD on disease management and to predict exacerbations using the Esperity Health app.
Learn moreContributing to the global body of medical knowledge through rigorous academic research and collaboration.
Fassbender A, Donde S, Silva M, Friganovic A, Stievano A, Costa E, Winders T, van Vugt J.
Ther Clin Risk Manag. 2024 Dec 27;20:939-954. doi: 10.2147/TCRM.S489873. PMID: 39741688. Free PMC article (Review).
Richardson-Parry A, Silva M, Valderas JM, Donde S, Woodruff S, van Vugt J.
Eur J Cancer Prev. 2023 Jul 1;32(4):396-409. doi: 10.1097/CEJ.0000000000000796. PMID: 37144585. Free PMC article.
Richardson-Parry A, Silva M, Valderas JM, Donde S, Woodruff S, van Vugt J.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2024 Oct;11(5):2898-2924. doi: 10.1007/s40615-023-01749-5. PMID: 37603223. Free PMC article (Review).
Cecconi C, Adams R, Cardone A, Declaye J, Silva M, Vanlerberghe T, Guldemond N, Devisch I, van Vugt J.
Front Public Health. 2025 Feb 26;13:1546317. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1546317. PMID: 40078753. Free PMC article.
Richardson-Parry A, Baas C, Donde S, Ferraiolo B, Karmo M, Maravic Z, Münter L, Ricci-Cabello I, Silva M, Tinianov S, Valderas JM, Woodruff S, van Vugt J.
Int J Equity Health. 2023 Jan 27;22(1):19. doi: 10.1186/s12939-023-01841-6. PMID: 36707816. Free PMC article.
Silva M, Roufosse F.
Adv Ther. 2019 Oct;36(10):2558-2566. doi: 10.1007/s12325-019-01070-w. PMID: 31473972. Free PMC article.
Monaco A, Palmer K, Holm Ravn Faber N, Kohler I, Silva M, Vatland A, van Griensven J, Votta M, Walsh D, Clay V, Yazicioglu MC, Ducinskiene D, Donde S.
J Med Internet Res. 2021 Jan 29;23(1):e25652. doi: 10.2196/25652. PMID: 33464206. Free PMC article.
Monaco A, Casteig Blanco A, Cobain M, Costa E, Guldemond N, Hancock C, Onder G, Pecorelli S, Silva M, Tournoy J, Trevisan C, Votta M, Yfantopoulos J, Yghemonos S, Clay V, Mondello Malvestiti F, De Schaetzen K, Sykara G, Donde S.
Aging Clin Exp Res. 2021 Oct;33(10):2899-2907. doi: 10.1007/s40520-021-01922-y. PMID: 34319512. Free PMC article.
Contact us
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We’d be happy to welcome you at our office in Brussels.
Come by for a coffee — let’s talk!
Bd Brand Whitlock 108, 1200 Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Brussels, Belgium
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