A Key Leader for Patient Voices

Julie Croner

Vice President, Community Development
Health Union

Julie Croner is redefining what it means to center patients in healthcare innovation. After beginning her career in IT consulting at Deloitte, she transformed her lived experience with psoriatic arthritis, avascular necrosis, and other complex conditions into a powerful platform for change. Today, she is a leading voice in the social health movement, ensuring patient perspectives are not treated as an afterthought but as a foundational driver of strategy.

As a key leader within the Health Union network, Julie pioneered the industry’s first Patient Leader Certification Program. This initiative established a “gold standard” for patient advocacy, equipping individuals with the skills to lead with credibility through storytelling, community engagement, and ethical collaboration. In doing so, she elevated patients into true partners for healthcare organizations—not just participants.

Previously at WEGO Health, Julie helped develop the Pharmaceutical Grade Influencer Marketing (PGIM) program, scaling a global network of over 100,000 Health Leaders. Her work created a trusted bridge between life sciences companies and patient communities, grounded in both authenticity and compliance.

Julie’s analytical mindset, shaped by her consulting background, also informs her personal approach to chronic illness, from meticulous health tracking to empowering others to become “CEOs of their own health.” Through her blog, It’s Just a Bad Day, Not a Bad Life, she champions resilience and reframes what it means to live fully with chronic conditions.

Julie frequently speaks at leading forums including Stanford Medicine X, the US Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health. Across each platform, she consistently advances her “Patients from the Start” philosophy—advocating for the inclusion of patient insight at the earliest stages of research, development, and commercialization. More than a participant in the conversation, Julie is actively shaping the systems that ensure patient voices are heard, valued, and embedded in the future of healthcare.

“Julie’s analytical mindset, shaped by her consulting background, also informs her personal approach to chronic illness, from meticulous health tracking to empowering others to become ‘CEOs of their own health.”