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The United States drug development process involves five key steps where the safety and effectiveness of a new drug candidate are rigorously evaluated. Crucially, the patient's voice is historically not included in the first four steps of the process. Dr. Leen Kawas, an established bioscience leader and current Propel Bio Partners Managing General Partner, believes strongly that the patient perspective must be integrated into much of the drug development cycle. Instead of deferring patient input to the last step, Dr. Kawas advocates including patient contributions in the clinical research phase. In her biotech entrepreneur work at Propel Bio, Dr. Kawas encourages the venture capital firm's biotech partners to act on this progressive paradigm. She provides hands-on guidance to incorporate