The 2026 New York Festivals Health Awards, which honors excellence in Healthcare & Wellness and Pharmaceutical advertising, has announced the inaugural Human Lens: The Lived Experience Specialty Jury.
The Specialty Jury will be led by co-chairs Jordan and Anna Rathkopf, co-founders of RATHKOPF, a patient and caregiver-led strategy and storytelling studio. Drawing on their own lived experiences with cancer and caregiving, as well as their professional expertise working with creative agencies, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, and advocacy organizations, the Rathkopfs will lead the review of work that puts lived experience at the heart of healthcare storytelling.
Their passion for this work drove them to advocate for a category recognizing a type of healthcare storytelling that has been hiding in plain sight for years: campaigns where lived experience isn’t simply represented but actively shapes the work itself. Their experience across the healthcare landscape revealed the need to recognize work that goes beyond authentic representation to meaningfully involve patients, caregivers, and communities in the creative process.
2026 Human Lens: The Lived Experience Specialty Jury
Jordan and Anna Rathkopf: Co-Founders of RATHKOPF – Co-Chairs
Anneliese Barron: Head of Social Impact, Lea Pictures
Glenn Batkin: Creative Director, Independent
Walter T. Geer III: Chief Creative Officer
Jana Jarosz: VP, Creative Director, OLIXIR New York
Clay MacGuire: SVP, Creative Director, 21Grams
Dina Peck: Founder, The Narratology Lab™️
Elyse Spatz Caplan: Strategic Advisor, Patient Advocacy & Empowerment
Eason Yang: Founder / Creative Director, Not Entirely Dead
What distinguishes Human Lens: The Lived Experience is not just the subject matter, but the process. New York Festivals Health and the Rathkopfs are looking for stories made with people, not simply about them. The category recognizes work that gives patients, caregivers, and communities a meaningful voice in shaping how their stories are told, from the earliest stages of strategy and ideation through production and beyond.
The 2026 Human Lens Specialty Jury brings together creative leaders, patient advocates, storytellers, and social impact experts whose perspectives span both professional expertise and lived experience. Together, they bring an unusually multidimensional lens to work that asks readers to see the person, not simply the patient, at the center of healthcare storytelling.
New for 2026, Human Lens: The Lived Experience elevates healthcare storytelling rooted in real patient, caregiver, and community experiences. The category celebrates work where lived experience goes beyond representation to actively influence the creative process, challenging stereotypes, fostering empathy and connection, and giving voice to real lives.
“We’re thrilled to welcome these exceptional industry leaders and passionate creatives to judge this important new category,” said Jennifer Vizina, Executive Director of the New York Festivals Health Awards. “Human Lens: The Lived Experience gives the industry a way to recognize a powerful shift in healthcare storytelling, one that puts real people and their lived experiences at the center of the creative process. We’re proud to honor work that gives those voices the influence and recognition they deserve.”
Across the 2026 NYF Health Executive Juries Health & Wellness & Pharma, Specialty, and soon-to-be-announced Shortlist Juries, an exceptional depth of industry experience and global perspective will guide the judging process, ensuring that every entry is thoughtfully considered and reviewed with rigor and respect for the work.
The official deadline to enter the 2026 NYF Health Awards is September 23 with a final deadline of Oct. 22. For more information on the competition, including rules, categories, and entry details, visit: HERE.
