With a true passion for patients and dedication to connecting people in need to resources, services and people, Wendy has built her career in patient advocacy in many rare disease communities and oncology. Wendy Erler is the Senior Vice President of Patient Affairs at Sarepta Therapeutics where she leads the Patient Affairs team. Building a strong patient engagement strategy, she works to ensure patient centered outcomes across all areas of clinical development and commercialization. She is championing the adoption of patient-centric concepts and practices across the company while building trusted partnerships with patient advocacy organizations. Previously, Ms. Erler led the Patient Experience function for Alexion, Astra Zeneca Rare Disease. She built the enterprise model for patient engagement which ensured patient insights were reflected in all critical corporate strategies. At Wave Life Sciences, Ms. Erler led Patient Advocacy and Commercial. During her tenure, she set the groundwork for both functions as the organization moved from pre-clinical to initiating several rare disease clinical trials. Earlier in her career, Wendy held roles of increasing responsibility at Biogen starting in field sales and advancing through the commercial organization before serving as the Public Affairs head of patient advocacy for several rare disease programs. In these roles she gained experience in Newborn Screening, public policy, HTA’s, and bringing the patient voice into all aspects of drug development. Wendy graduated from Miami University and earned her MBA from St. Joseph’s University.