Behind the scenes at Sano: Navigating the patient journey
Advocating for patients is one of the core pillars of Sano’s mission. Our approach to clinical trials is patient-centered and entails deep and meaningful engagement with patients and participants. This may include providing education, genetic testing, or support to embark on the clinical trial process.
In this blog, we delve into the patient journey with a Sanosaur who interacts with patients every day. Cindy Guzman is a Patient Navigator Lead on our Recruitment and Engagement team. Her efforts ensure that the participant experience is smooth and supportive every step of the way.
A week in the life
Cindy’s weeks are often incredibly dynamic and centered around the participant experience. The bulk of her activities involve direct patient communication through proactive outreach to guide them on their journey and responding to incoming requests to ensure they feel supported and heard.
Within the Research & Engagement team, she plays a critical role as both a participant advocate and a connector across functions. By working closely with clinical operations, project managers, engineers, and external partners, Cindy ensures that participant needs are consistently represented and that studies run smoothly.
Guiding and advocating for patients
Cindy is a guide and advocate for patients. From the moment they engage with Sano, she is a consistent point of contact. She focuses on making their journey as seamless, clear, and positive as possible. This involves everything from answering their initial questions and guiding them through joining Sano’s platform to providing ongoing support while coordinating with our project managers, clinical operations team, engineers, and partners.
Some of the most common questions she receives are related to the genetic testing kit, results, and eligibility criteria. Cindy’s approach is to be as transparent as possible, explaining the process clearly and ensuring that every participant feels appreciated. She recognizes that their time is valuable, and that participation is entirely voluntary.
Where possible, she removes barriers not only for participants but also for internal teams and partners to ensure the success of each study by facilitating participant engagement and retention.
Turning touchpoints into impact
Cindy’s hands-on role across each of the studies we work on involves guiding participants through each critical stage, from onboarding new participants to ordering genetic testing kits. She also reviews results, confirms trial eligibility, and connects participants to clinical sites. These touchpoints are moments to build confidence, answer questions, and ensure participants feel supported in what is often an overwhelming process.
One recent achievement was implementing a targeted outreach strategy that achieved a 90% response rate from a participant cohort. This information proved essential for several teams across Sano, enabling them to deliver a better-informed patient experience. For Cindy, the result highlighted both the commitment of participants to advancing research and the importance of engagement strategies that are grounded in genuine connection.
Scaling with empathy
As Sano expands, the scale of outreach and patient communication is increasing. Managing that growth has introduced challenges, but Cindy sees it as an opportunity to evolve. She credits her team’s openness to trying new approaches and testing new strategies as key to navigating these “growing pains.” A supportive, collaborative culture has allowed the team to keep adapting while staying grounded in its mission.
Looking ahead, Cindy’s long-term goal is to help grow the patient navigation function into a benchmark for the industry. She is excited by the prospect of mentoring new team members and refining strategies based on her frontline experience.
She also sees the potential for incorporating new technologies such as AI to support logistics (scheduling, reminders, planning) that can reduce the burden on patients and families. However, she emphasizes that technology must never replace empathy and scale should not come at the cost of the human touch that defines patient-centered care.
Finding purpose in people
Cindy’s motivation comes from two sources: the participants and her team. She is deeply moved by the role Sano plays in the health journey of participants and the bigger picture of the impact her work makes in advancing innovation for rare diseases. Patient feedback is incredibly motivating to her and is the most powerful reminder that her work is important.
She also values the collaborative spirit of the Recruitment and Engagement team. Cindy highlighted that everyone on the team is working towards the same mission and have a genuine willingness to provide support where needed to help each other succeed. In her view, this commitment and level of care makes all the challenges worthwhile.
To explore patient engagement strategies in trials, access our whitepaper Scaling patient engagement strategies in precision medicine trials: Technology, integration, and regulatory development or watch our webinar Patient engagement in precision medicine research.