A paradigm for fostering patient-centered research in liver disease: The liver transplant patient-engagement program.

Background: Many federal funding and regulatory agencies require patient engagement to conduct patient-centered research and drug development. We developed a liver transplantation patient-engagement program, which can serve as a model for bringing the patient perspective to digestive diseases research.

Methods: Six liver transplantation patient-engagement program advisors completed training in patient engagement; participated in several virtual sessions; and completed postsession surveys.

Results: Qualitative and quantitative results elucidated patient-centered liver transplantation study outcomes and barriers/facilitators to conducting clinical research. Group satisfaction was very high.

Conclusions: The liver transplantation patient-engagement program model provides a paradigm for how to engage patients in the formative steps of patient-centered clinical research.