Laurence Maes is a healthcare policy and strategy leader with more than 20 years of experience bringing together innovation, patient perspectives, and public policy. She currently leads External Affairs Biotech Strategy in the Netherlands, focusing on advanced therapies, patient access, and healthcare system readiness. Throughout her career, she has worked with patient organizations, industry, government, and academia to build collaborations that help translate innovation into impact for patients. Prior to her current role, she held senior leadership positions in patient engagement, advocacy, and healthcare policy, including serving as Head of Policy & Public Affairs at the Dutch Federation of Cancer Patient Organizations(NFK). In addition to her professional role, she chairs the ATMP NL workstream on public private collaboration and serves on several advisory and governance boards (e.g. EUPATI and PSM consortium at Lygature) focused on strengthening the healthcare and life sciences ecosystem.