T2B Monthly | February 2026

Hi!

Even though we always ask our panelists to ditch the BS, even I'm sometimes surprised by the candor that shows up. Across our Post-JPM press panel, Beyond ChatGPT webinar this morning, and Navigating Misinformation Comm Convo, this month was no exception.

I also want to shout out our roundtables. Member-led, volunteer-driven, diving deep into the disciplines that make up our world. They are setting a high bar. Seriously.

Someone called T2B a "movement" the other day. I'm not going to argue with that.

Today's email is 2,000 words, a 7-minute read.

🗓️ T2B programming snapshot

*Stay tuned for new Q1 Boston and Princeton T2Bmeet dates.*

» Q1 PA&E Roundtable Event: Patient Stories Without a Fixed Address | Thursday, March 5th @ 12-1 p.m. ET

This inaugural Patient Advocacy & Engagement Roundtable panel explores how different advocacy structures shape communications.

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

» Q1 IR Roundtable Event: Beyond the Checkbox — How ESG Drives Trust Among Investors and Patients Alike | Friday, March 13th @ 12-12:45 p.m. ET

This IR Roundtable discussion unpacks how to right-size ESG strategy and communications across company stages, and how thoughtful, patient-centered governance can strengthen credibility.

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

» March Comm Convo: The Outsider Advantage: Cross-Industry Comms Insights | Thursday, March 26th @ 12-1 p.m. ET

Communicators who’ve moved between life sciences and other regulated industries share how outside perspective can sharpen our influence, executive counsel, and team adaptability.

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

» Q1 Masterclass – The Business of the Business: Building Communications Practices That Scale | Tuesday, March 31st @ 12-1 p.m. ET

Growth as a biopharma communicator increasingly depends on mastering the business behind the work. This masterclass with Andrea Johnston, a biopharma comms veteran, agency founder, and executive, will focus on the fundamentals required to build resilient, scalable communications practices.

Register here. Free and exclusive for T2B Pro and Student members (Basic members not permitted).

» T2Bmeet @ San Diego | Thursday, April 23rd @ 5-7:30 p.m. PT

​This come-and-go networking event is open to all biopharma communicators and IR pros in the T2B community. Whether you're local to San Diego or in town for Fierce Pharma Engage, come mix and mingle with friends and colleagues!

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

» 2nd Annual T2B Biopharma Comms Forum: Clarity at the Flashpoint | Coming June 2026 in Greater 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 Genevieve de Manio Photography.

Registration opens in April. | Complimentary for T2B Pro and Student members. | $875 for Basic.

🌍 March Comm Convo – The Outsider Advantage: Cross-Industry Comms Insights

Regulatory constraints and unique stakeholder needs (like those of patient communities) add complexity to our work as biopharma communicators. But many of the tensions we navigate aren’t actually one-of-a-kind.

Join Lilian Anekwe (GSK), who moved from digital journalism and Meta into global pharma communications, and Alexandra Engel (Axon), who now leads communications in public safety technology after roles in biopharma, for a discussion moderated by Kathleen Noonan (ITM) on what translates across industries, and how outside perspective can sharpen executive counsel, influence, and team adaptability.

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

🎓 Q1 Masterclass: The Business of the Business

We host a T2B masterclass every quarter as an opportunity for community members to step back and focus for just an hour on their own personal development.

For our first masterclass of 2026, I couldn't be more excited to welcome biopharma communications veteran and agency founder Andrea L. Johnston for The Business of the Business: Building Communications Practices That Scale.

Andrea will graciously share the lessons she has learned while building, scaling, and leading communications organizations across agency, client-side, and private equity environments. While we have seen an uptick in freelancers/fractional consultants joining T2B, this session will be applicable for all communicators across our community, as we get called on to be strategic business advisors.

Sign up here. Quarterly masterclasses are exclusive to T2B Pro and Student members. (Basic members are not permitted.)

🫶 Patient Advocacy & Engagement Roundtable updates: new resource & inaugural event

Our Patient Advocacy & Engagement Roundtable has been busy!

• New resource: Roundtable member Lauren Walrath developed a practical guide for biopharma communicators on building respectful, compliant, and trust-centered relationships with patient advocacy organizations across the product lifecycle. It covers proactive engagement, cross-functional alignment, and how to navigate sensitive milestones so patient voices are reflected thoughtfully and responsibly in company communications.
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  ​View it here.
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• First-ever PA&E Roundtable event next Thursday (March 5th): Patient Stories Without a Fixed Address is designed for communicators operating across the biopharma lifecycle. Leaders from Bayer, Atrium Therapeutics, and Lucid Health Solutions will examine how organizational design shapes communications strategy, where friction can emerge, and how to responsibly integrate patient insight into leadership messaging and campaigns.
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  ​Register here. Exclusive to T2B Pro and Student members (Basic members are not permitted).

🧭 ESG comms framework & upcoming panel

And see what T2B's IR Roundtable has been up to:

• 10 best practices for ESG comms: While ESG in our industry carries weight with investors and ratings agencies, it also shapes how patients, employees, and partners understand who our orgs are and what we stand for. That dual lens makes it different than other industries. Huge thanks to Deborah Elson and Ami Bavishi for sharing their insights in this month's resource that covers best practices for ESG.
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  ​View it here.
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• Beyond the Checkbox: How ESG Drives Trust Among Investors and Patients Alike: Regardless of whether IR is formally in your remit, ESG conversations are showing up everywhere right now... in earnings prep, in board discussions, in analyst questions, and increasingly in conversations about patient trust. Take a deeper dive with Elizabeth Higgins (formerly Astria Therapeutics), Sri Ramaswami (formerly Galapagos, GSK, now at Sri Spoke Communications LLC), and David Connolly (Rhythm Pharmcaceuticals) on March 13th!
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  ​Register here. Exclusive to T2B Pro and Student members (Basic members are not permitted).

🧩 Culture Connect Roundtable Year 2 new member announcement

The T2B Culture Connect Roundtable enters its second year with an expanded group of leaders focused on one of our most important audiences: employees.

Through new programming and resources, this group will help our community navigate the evolving dynamics of employee engagement and culture.

• Roundtable Chair: Amy Bowman VP, Communications, Life Sciences, Danaher Corporation (Returning Member)
• Ann Melinger - CEO and Owner, bink
• Agatha Newman - Global R&D Communications Head, Astellas
• Stacy Nobles - VP of Corporate Communications, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Returning Member)
• Carolyn Noyes - Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Spur Therapeutics (Returning Member)
• Jessica Weinstein - Senior Director, Communications, Cullinan Therapeutics

💡 Culture Connect cross-generational session top 10 takeaways

The topic of generational differences in the workforce often makes headlines. At our recent Culture Connect session, the conversation moved beyond stereotypes to examine how trust, feedback, skepticism, and lived experience shape how we collaborate across career stages.

What emerged was a set of leadership principles for building understanding, adaptability, and stronger team dynamics in complex environments.

1. Notice patterns beyond generations. Generational context can offer useful signals, and noticing them invites deeper understanding. Behavior, though, often reflects personality, role pressure, and experience as much as birth year.
2. Channel skepticism into constructive insight. Healthy skepticism protects science and credibility when guided toward understanding. Left unchecked, cynicism can narrow perspective and stifle innovation.
3. Build trust as the gateway to understanding. How communication is received across generations often depends less on the message itself and more on whether trust and connection already exist.
4. Lead with curiosity in every conversation. Staying curious about how colleagues think, decide, and work (a recurring theme here at T2B, I might add!!) helps surface generational differences as opportunities for insight rather than sources of friction.
5. See resistance as useful context. What appears as pushback may reflect previous experiences with risk, regulation, or change. Paying attention to that context reveals what people need to feel confident moving forward.
6. Recognize feedback as generational insight. Expectations around feedback cadence and format are shaped by when and how people learned to work, making “meeting people where they are” a vital modern leadership skill.
7. Match feedback to the moment. Reliance on formal review cycles reflects long-standing performance norms, while more real-time feedback aligns with today’s desire for continuous growth and connection.
8. Define what impact looks like together. In flexible and hybrid work settings, visibility and contribution can show up in different ways. Aligning on what meaningful impact looks like builds trust and shared appreciation across generations.
9. Embrace continuous learning at every stage. Discomfort with new tools or approaches can appear at any career point, reminding us to treat learning as ongoing — and a shared sign of growth, not limitation.
10. Acknowledge generational dynamics as shared learning. Openly naming generational differences as common context, rather than personal shortcomings, keeps teams focused on relationships, learning, and results.

T2B Pro and Student members may access the full session replay here.

▶️ AI webinar + post-JPM reporter panel replays now available

Whenever possible, we record our virtual sessions to make available in the T2B content archive, available to Pro and Student members via your Dashboard.

We've had several requests for recent webinar replays, so I wanted to call them out here for you all:

• NEW - just this morning, we had an energizing AI Roundtable event with practical tips galore! Catch the replay here. (I'm still digesting everything we heard, but we'll soon be compiling our usual top 10 takeaways and key resources highlighted.)
• Our February Comm Convo, Fighting Misinformation Without Amplifying It, looked at making strategic intervention decisions under pressure and what approaches actually reduce harm without spreading the misinformation we’re trying to counter. View the replay here.
• The Media Minds Roundtable hosted earlier this month a post-JPM press panel with Annalee Armstrong (BioSpace), Max Bayer (Endpoints), and Mandy Jackson (Scrip). Replay here!

👀 Seen on social

It’s hard to escape the constant online chatter about how AI is coming for our jobs. 🙄
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This recent piece from marketing maven Ann Handley adds some much-needed nuance to the conversation. (And if you don't already follow Ann on LI, you should!)

AI may be more efficient at creating content than we are, she says, but our value in the workplace goes well beyond speed. And speed obviously isn’t the only measure of value, nor the most important one.

Good food for thought as Michelle and I put together the program supporting the Clarity at the Flashpoint theme at our annual forum in June.