Webinar: Turning patient stories into global policy
The WONCA Special Interest Group on Policy Advocacy invites family doctors and colleagues to a webinar with WONCA President-Elect Prof Maria Pilar Astier Peña.
Family medicine has a distinctive voice in health policy, and it begins with listening to patients. Drawing on her experience across clinical practice, research, and international advocacy, Prof Astier Peña will explore how the everyday work of family doctors, the small gestures and the patient stories at the heart of primary care, can shape policy at national and global levels.
Date: Tuesday, 8 September 2026
Time: 15:30 UTC
Speaker: Prof Maria Pilar Astier Peña, WONCA President-Elect
Moderator: Dr Sankha Randenikumara, Co-chair, SIG on Policy Advocacy
Register for the webinar on Zoom
Simultaneous interpretation into Spanish will be available.
About the speaker
Prof Maria Pilar Astier Peña is WONCA President-Elect for the 2025 to 2027 term and will serve as President for the 2027 to 2029 biennium, the first Spanish family doctor to hold the role. She works as a family doctor in Zaragoza, Spain, and is a professor at the University of Zaragoza, where she teaches clinical reasoning, professionalism, and clinical ethics. She is a recognised international expert in patient safety and healthcare quality, has advised bodies including the WHO and the OECD, and served as WONCA WHO Liaison Officer.