Richard Schwartz is the creator of "Experience as a Medicine™" (EaaM), an evidence-based movement to clinically validate the power of compassion, simplicity, and experience design in improving healthcare outcomes. This approach recalibrates how pharmaceutical companies engage with patients and health professionals by emphasising compassion, reciprocity, and simplicity in healthcare experiences. He also leads efforts to set cross-industry standards for customer expectations and business impact in life sciences. He has held leadership roels at WebMD, Medscape, and Publicis Health / Digitas and served as an advisor to organisations including: TEDMED, The NYC Mayor's Council for Innovation, PATH, WHO, leading technology firms, and many life sciences manufacturers.

In life sciences, the miracle often begins with the molecule. But the story doesn’t end there. Every breakthrough, every new drug, every treatment that enters the world ultimately meets a person — a patient, a clinician, a carer — hoping not just for results, but to feel that they matter.

Experience isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the human edge in healthcare’s “expectations economy.” People don’t remember all the facts and figures. They remember how you made them feel — respected, understood, heard. Sometimes, what moves the needle isn’t the technology, but the trust built in every interaction.

We all have a gene-deep need to be heard, understood, and valued. Wanting these feelings is not a cry for attention; it’s a basic truth of meaningful human engagement. In healthcare, the reciprocity of being valued and trusted can be as pivotal to outcomes as any prescription.

That’s the challenge — and the opportunity — for those of us in life sciences. To treat people not as cases, but as whole humans, to use every tool at our disposal — data, AI, automation — to listen deeper and respond faster, without losing empathy. As someone once said, “Experience isn’t a plugin. It’s the main ingredient.”

Imagine a world where experience is measured with the same rigour as clinical results. Where every patient and clinician interaction is another dose of connection, not just another tick on a form. That’s what it means to move from the science of molecules to the art of meaning, making experience a medicine all its own.

If this resonates, there’s an exclusive chance to hear more

This June, Richard Schwartz joins us in Zurich as a headline speaker at our CX & AI Hype Bubble Event — sharing how Life Sciences can turn experience into real-world outcomes. You’ll get practical strategies, candid stories, and a chance to debate what truly works in today’s competitive healthcare market.

Join us 11–13 June in Zurich — offline, in person, with the sharpest minds in pharma, healthcare, and customer experience.