Patients as Partners in Rare Disease Diagnosis and Research

There is great value in understanding the patient perspective in rare disease diagnosis and research, and in partnering actively with patients and their families throughout the process. Meaningful and respectful interaction between patients and researchers leads to learning on both sides, and ultimately, to better research outcomes. Researchers can help patients understand how research is conducted and what the latest advances and perceived gaps in research are, and patients, who have direct experience living with their health conditions, can impart to researchers what is most important to them. We describe our engagement with patients in the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN) program, as well as the lessons we have learned to date. In the UDN, patients have been instrumental in bringing meaning to the work of clinicians and researchers, building patient communities, making the network aware of unmet patient needs, advocating for additional research funding, and disseminating UDN research findings. Although patient engagement in the UDN has already had a significant positive impact on our work, we continue to strive to involve patients earlier in the process, in the research design itself, and in addressing power dynamics that may arise between clinicians, researchers, and patients.