Suz Schrandt, JD, is the Director of Patient Engagement at the Arthritis Foundation. In this role, she develops and leads the Foundation's Patient Engagement strategy, working to infuse the wisdom and lived experience of patients into clinical research, drug and device development, value assessment, and many other activities within the healthcare system. Previously Schrandt served as the Deputy Director of Patient Engagement for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). While at PCORI, she helped to create and implement several key patient engagement initiatives including the Engagement Rubric, the concept of Engagement Officers, and the Pipeline to Proposal awards program.
Schrandt’s passion for patient engagement began in large part from her own experience, having been diagnosed with polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis as a teenager, several years before the first biologics were available. She has undergone multiple corrective orthopedic surgeries and has logged nearly thirty years of first-hand experience with the healthcare system. She is a daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, niece, and friend of many people with rheumatologic diseases and has seen first-hand their determination, and the power that their knowledge and voice can have.
Before joining PCORI, Schrandt served as the Health Reform Team Leader for the Kansas Health Institute, where she educated the state's policymakers, providers, and consumers on the implications of the Affordable Care Act and other key health legislation. Her experience and interests span disability and health law and policy, including foci in patient-engaged clinical training, bioethics, and genetic discrimination. Schrandt has long advocated on behalf of children and adults with arthritis and has been engaged in numerous patient and provider education initiatives aimed at increasing early diagnosis and appropriate, patient-centered management of chronic disease.
Schrandt is one of nine voting members on the FDA’s inaugural Patient Engagement Advisory Committee, the Chairperson for the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Patient Representative Roundtable, and has served on the Medical Device Innovation Consortium’s Science of Patient Input Committee. She represents the Arthritis Foundation on the FasterCures Patients Count Patient Leadership Council, and is a member of the Kansas Bar Association, American Health Lawyers Association, and Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research.
Schrandt resides in Arlington, Virginia with her husband and their many canine and feline family members.