T2B Monthly | April 2026

Hi!

This is one of those moments in time where you can really see the breadth of what this community is building together: upcoming meetups at ASCO, BIO, SF, and NY; new roundtable programming on culture, AI search, and media shifts; a first-of-its-kind AI survey for our field; and practical resources across IR, patient advocacy, and more.

A lot is happening, and I’m grateful to everyone for being here for it. Hope to see many of you at an upcoming event soon!

Today's email is 2,617 words, a 9-minute read.

🗓️ T2B programming snapshot

» Q2 Culture Connect Roundtable Event: Who Owns Culture? | Tuesday, May 12th @ 12 p.m.-1 p.m. ET

Who actually owns culture in biopharma organizations, and how is it shaped in practice? This Culture Connect Roundtable event convenes leaders from across comms, HR, and the business to explore how culture is reinforced through messaging, leadership, and day-to-day decisions.

Sign up here. | Free and exclusive to T2B Pro and Student members (Basic members not permitted).

» Q2 T2Bmeet @ NY/NJ | Thursday, May 14th @ 5-7 p.m. ET

Our Q2 NY/NJ meetup is set for Tribeca—join fellow biopharma communicators for a relaxed, come-and-go evening to reconnect, compare notes, and meet others across the region. Light apps will be provided; drinks are on you.

Sign up here. | Complimentary for T2B Pro and Student members. | $30 for Basic.

» Q2 Digital & Social Media Roundtable Event: How Influencers, Social, and Forums Are Shaping AI Search Results | Friday, May 15th @ 12-1 p.m. ET

This inaugural Digital & Social Media Roundtable session explores how platforms like TikTok, Reddit, and YouTube—and the influencers and communities on them—are increasingly shaping AI-generated search results, and what that means for how biopharma communicators approach content, credibility, and engagement.

Sign up here. | Free and exclusive to T2B Pro and Student members (Basic members not permitted).

» May Comm Convo: Reaching and Valuing Every Generation | Thursday, May 21st @ 1-2 p.m. ET

This Comm Convo brings together perspectives across career stages to candidly discuss how to engage stakeholders across generations, and what it takes to build more inclusive, effective teams in the process.

Sign up here. | Complimentary for T2B Pro and Student members. | $40 for Basic.

» T2Bmeet @ ASCO / Chicago | Sunday, May 31st @ 8-10:30 a.m. CT

We’ll be in Chicago during ASCO to host a casual breakfast at Spoke & Bird, a 15-minute walk from McCormick. Whether you're in town for the meeting or are a local Chicagoan, we invite you to join fellow biopharma communicators.

Sign up here. | Complimentary for T2B Pro and Student members. | $50 for Basic.

» Q2 Masterclass: Thriving Beyond Limits: Fear Less & Flow More | Tuesday, June 3rd @ 12-1 p.m. ET

Much of our work as communicators is outward-facing. This session turns the lens inward. Ashley Paré (Own Your Worth®, ex-Novartis) explores the patterns behind overthinking, overworking, and hesitation, and shares practical tools to help us stay clear under pressure, communicate with confidence, and make decisions without burning out.

Sign up here. | Free and exclusive to T2B Pro and Student members (Basic members not permitted).

» 2nd Annual T2B Biopharma Comms Forum: Clarity at the Flashpoint | Coming June 2026 (Full Day) in Boston

The theme for T2B’s 2026 Forum is Clarity at the Flashpoint. Because there will undoubtedly continue to be more flashpoints, and we communicators need to bring, and be, that clarity. This year’s Biopharma Comms Forum will gather our community for a full day of programming and connection as we examine how senior communications leaders navigate uncertainty, build influence systems that endure budget cuts and leadership changes, orchestrate complex stakeholder dynamics, and lead with authority.

Waterhouse returns as a partner, with support from Addison MacLeod.

Full agenda available + registration now open! | Complimentary for T2B Pro and Student members. | $875 for Basic.

» Q2 T2Bmeet @ SF | Tuesday, June 16th @ 4:30-7 p.m. PT

We’re back in the Bay Area for our Q2 SF meetup, hosted by Mirum Pharmaceuticals. Join us for a come-and-go evening of networking, conversation, and connection, as well as a partnered giveback activity with Life Science Cares.

Sign up here. | Complimentary for T2B Pro and Student members. | $50 for Basic.

» Q2 T2Bmeet @ San Diego / BIO reception | Tuesday, June 23rd | 4.30 p.m.- 7 p.m PT

Our Q2 T2Bmeet in San Diego is taking place during the week of BIO! The venue, Union Gaslamp, is within walking distance of the San Diego Convention Center. Hope you can make it to this special-edition meetup, hosted by LifeSci Communications.

Sign up here. | Complimentary for T2B Pro and Student members. | $50 for Basic.

» Q2 Media Minds Roundtable Event: Journalists as Creators | Thursday, June 25th @ 11 a.m.-12 p.m. ET

As journalists increasingly build their own platforms and audiences, the lines between reporting, content creation, and influence are shifting. This Media Minds Roundtable panel explores what that means for how communicators engage, pitch, and build relationships.

Save the date - registration opens soon. | Free and exclusive to T2B Pro and Student members (Basic members not permitted).

🎥 ICYMI: Recent event replays

Replays of most T2B virtual programming are available to Pro and Student members via your Dashboard.

• ​April 2026 Comm Convo: Beyond Self-Care to Structural Change ​
• ​Q2 PA&E Roundtable Event: What Patient Organizations Actually Need From Biopharma Communications​
• ​Q1 2026 Masterclass: The Business of the Business​
• ​Q1 IR Roundtable Event: Beyond the Checkbox: How ESG Drives Trust Among Investors and Patients Alike​

🎤 Second Annual Biopharma Comms Forum: Clarity at the Flashpoint

With just over a month left until this year’s forum, the agenda taking shape. Across the day, we’ll dig into what it takes to lead through pressure, whether that’s building influence that holds through change, navigating competing stakeholder demands, or making decisions when clarity isn’t a given.

A few sessions to flag: a panel on "Trust, Influence, and the Staying Power to Lead;" early insights from the first AI in Biopharma Communications survey; and a discussion on "What AI Makes More Valuable" for our function.

Stay tuned for speaker spotlights. We hope you’ll join us in Boston on June 11th!

​Registration now open. (Free for T2B Pro and Student members)

🥂 T2Bmeets @ ASCO + BIO + summer mixers

We’ll be hosting T2Bmeet gatherings at two of the biggest industry moments this quarter: ASCO in Chicago (yes, we're back!) and BIO in San Diego. And we'll also be back in SF and NY for regional mixers. From a casual ASCO breakfast to a BIO week reception, these events are designed to bring communicators together across companies, roles, and regions.

A quick thank-you to Real Chemistry for hosting last week’s San Diego mixer and helping us bring the local community together ahead of BIO. If you’ll be on the ground at either conference or are local to one of our mixer cities, we hope you’ll join us to reconnect with old friends and meet others.

• Chicago / ASCO — Sunday, May 31st @ 8-10:30 a.m. CT
• NY/NJ — Thursday, May 14th @ 5-7 p.m. ET (this quarter's mixer is in NYC)
• San Francisco — Tuesday, June 16th @ 4:30-7 p.m. PT (hosted by Mirum Pharmaceuticals)
• San Diego / BIO — Tuesday, June 23rd @ 4:30-7 p.m. PT (hosted by LifeSci Communications)

​Sign up for upcoming T2Bmeets here, and remember that these are all free if you're a Pro or Student member (log into your T2B account to get your promo code).

🤝 Who Owns Culture?

We’re continuing the Culture Connect conversation with our Q2 Roundtable panel on Tuesday, May 12th (12-1 p.m. ET), alongside a new companion resource authored by roundtable member Ann Mellinger that takes a more structured look at culture ownership in practice.

The core idea: culture doesn’t sit with one function, and saying “everyone owns it” often means no one is accountable. The resource lays out a practical responsibility model across HR, leadership, and internal communications, including a clear matrix defining who designs, activates, and ultimately reinforces culture across the organization.

The upcoming session builds on this, bringing together perspectives from Jessica Weinstein (Cullinan Tx + Culture Connect Roundtable member), Kyler Murray (Blueprint), and Emily Swick (Telix) across comms, HR, and the business to explore how culture is shaped in real-world environments, especially during periods of change, and across increasingly hybrid and global teams.

> Event details and registration here.​

> Read the companion resource here.​

🤖 AI in Biopharma Comms survey + new AEO article

T2B’s inaugural AI in Biopharma Communications Survey is underway! If you haven’t contributed yet, this is a chance to help shape a benchmark we can use to inform policy, training, resourcing, and how our roles are evolving. Huge thanks to T2B AI Roundtable members and Knowledge Partner Syneos Health Communications for making this happen!

Our deep dive into how biopharma communicators are using AI builds on recent work from the AI Roundtable, including a new resource by Matthew Snodgrass on answer engine optimization (AEO) and how AI-generated search is reshaping visibility, where being absent from AI outputs risks making you invisible to your stakeholders.

The survey takes ~10 minutes and is open through May 18th (no T2B membership required). Take it here.​

​Read the AI Roundtable article here.​

🚀 How Influencers, Social, and Forums Are Shaping AI Search Results

As AI transforms search from links to synthesized answers, the signals driving visibility are shifting super fast. This inaugural Digital & Social Media Roundtable event on May 15th led by Juliana DiBona and Christopher Rizzo explores how platforms like TikTok, Reddit, and YouTube—and the influencers and communities on them—are influencing AI-generated results, and what that means for how biopharma communicators think about content, credibility, and engagement in an AI-first landscape.

​T2B Pro and Student members can RSVP here.​

📘 Engaging KOLs in IR

This month’s IR Roundtable resource, authored by our outgoing IR Roundtable chair Ami Bavishi, addresses how to use key opinion leaders (KOLs) to strengthen credibility with investors. The core themes: KOLs aren’t marketing assets but rather credibility multipliers, and their value depends on independence, preparation, and how they’re integrated into your broader IR strategy.

It also highlights how expert networks and third-party conversations shape investor perception beyond your direct control, reinforcing the need for clear, consistent messaging across disclosures and touchpoints.

​Read the full resource here.​

🤲 What patient communities need from biopharma communicators

Our latest Patient Advocacy & Engagement Roundtable panel brought together perspectives from those working closest to patient communities, offering a candid look at what builds trust, what erodes it, and what often goes overlooked. Here are 10 takeaways that stayed with us:

1. Reframe "patient" as lived experienced expert (LEE). People living with complex conditions often know more about their disease than the providers treating them.
2. Let language do the work it was meant to do. "The patient failed the treatment" is still in circulation, unfortunately. Person-first, accurate framing remains something many communicators are actively pushing for internally.
3. Treat polish as a potential liability. Highly produced materials that idealize the patient experience can feel more distancing than connecting to the communities they're meant to reach.
4. Build for the community you don't usually see. The most visible patient voices tend to be those with the means to show up; meaningful engagement requires actively reaching beyond the familiar few.
5. Recognize patient organizations as the trust infrastructure. They're not selling anything; communities turn to them first when deciding whether to engage with a company or a trial.
6. Invest in patient communities before you need them. Even a Facebook group counts... connecting early, when there's no immediate ask, changes what the relationship can hold later.
7. Recognize the "used and moved on" pattern before you replicate it. The speakers cautioned against a common cycle: engagement peaks around a trial or milestone, then goes quiet, and patient groups remember.
8. Prepare partners for the realities of clinical development. NDAs, trial timelines, FDA constraints — patient groups often lack the context to navigate these without guidance, and filling that gap early prevents conflict later.
9. Treat time as a form of respect. Many patient organizations run on one or two people, often volunteers; adequate lead time and follow-through signal partnership more clearly than any formal agreement.
10. A quote isn't consent. It might sound like common sense, but panelists reminded us that something said openly in a conversation may carry consequences for a patient's career, family, or sense of how their illness is represented. A friendly reminder to confirm before publishing, every time.

And, watch the replay here.

📰 Q&A with BioCentury's Tierney Baum

This edition of the Biopharma Beat Bulletin spotlights Tierney Baum, biopharma analyst at BioCentury, whose coverage sits at the intersection of clinical data, therapeutic landscapes, and where the field is heading.

A couple of reminders worth carrying into your day-to-day:

• Lead with differentiation. “Unmet need” is assumed; what matters is how your data or approach meaningfully advances the field.
• Write for skimmability. If the core value isn’t clear in the first few seconds, it’s unlikely to land. Formatting and clarity do as much work as the message itself.

Thanks to Caren Scannell, of our Media Minds Roundtable, for this latest spotlight! See our Q&A with Tierney here.​

👥 New Students & Recent Grads Roundtable members announced

Please help us welcome our next cohort of S&RG Roundtable members, a group of early-career communicators across geographies, roles, and disciplines—from students in the UK and U.S. to professionals working across agency, IR, and client experience. This mix of perspectives will make this group valuable as they shape programming and resources for the next generation of biopharma communicators.

Meet the cohort:

• Jasmine Bell - Student, University College London
• Grace Chiappetta-Uberti - Student, Boston University
• Mimi Le - Client Coordinator, Catalytic Agency
• Danielle London - Associate, Client Experience, dna Communications
• Carter McCray - Analyst, Gilmartin Group LLC
• Chair: Anna Major - Associate Communications Designer, HCP
• Executive Sponsor: Jenna Tomae - Vice President, Executive Search, Crossover Search Partners

👀 Seen on social

A recent New York Times piece on CEOs and executive visibility has been making the rounds, but this LinkedIn post from journalist Eleanor Warnock pushed the conversation in an even more interesting direction: the idea that the next generation of CEOs may be defined by their ability to write.

As she notes in her piece featuring ghostwriter and former Bloomberg reporter Ted Merz:

Executive visibility has long been tied to conferences, media interviews, investor events, and carefully managed moments of public presence. But as traditional media becomes harder to land and owned channels carry more weight (see T2B's upcoming Media Minds Roundtable event on June 25th, Journalists as Creators, coming soon!), the leaders who can express clear, credible thinking in their own voice may have a real advantage.