Patrick Deroost
The founder of Optigage
With a master’s degree in Applied Economics and Marketing, Patrick has a solid academic foundation. Throughout his career, Patrick has earned an extensive track record of professional accomplishments in both the private and public sectors. His experience ranges from small- and medium-sized firms to large companies. In particular, he is recognized for strategic contributions in communication, positioning, and data-driven decision-making.
Patrick performs a central role within Optigage to help clients devise effective positioning and associated communication. He has acquired in-depth knowledge of the pharmaceutical and medical sectors through more than 15 years of senior experience.
What sets Patrick apart is his ability to communicate complex subject matter with clarity and precision across a broad spectrum of stakeholders. He thinks strategically; importantly, Patrick also ensures that client strategies are translatable into concrete and achievable implementation.
Patrick is trilingual (Dutch, English and French).
Manuel Bollue
A founder and expert in process and change management.
With a master’s degree in Communication Sciences and Marketing, and over 20 years of experience, Manuel combines in-depth knowledge of communication with strategic insights into how people and organisations deal with change.
His passion lies in guiding people through transition processes — whether it is internal restructuring within a healthcare organisation, or successfully launching new medicines on the market. For Manuel, change is not just about processes and systems; above all, it is about people. His work focuses on making change tangible and manageable, even in high-stakes sectors such as healthcare.
Manuel leads workshops and delivers presentations that are clear, concise, and effective. He creates a safe and stimulating environment in which participants can reflect, learn, and actively help set the direction. With a sense of rhythm and structure, together with sensitivity for each target audience, Manuel brings clarity to complex situations and makes difficult messages discussable. His sessions create movement and connections — from doctors to management teams. Clients value Manuel’s know-how to tailor his approach to different contexts and target groups.
Manuel is trilingual (Dutch, English and French).
Education
Degrees:
- Master’s degree in Communication and Marketing
Extra certificates:
- Project Management, Visual Changemaking
- Entrepreneurship through innovative apps (Vlaio)
- Leveraging Ecosystems in Corporate Innovations (MIT)
- Organisational transformations (Schumacher College)
Professional Experiences
- project and change manager on 10+ welfare and care projects
- Entrepreneurship through innovative apps (Vlaio)
Publications
Whitepapers:
- On The Agenda. How Healthcare Companies and Healthcare Practitioners Interact Best
Academic contributions
- Shared Decision Making for Cancer Patients, Journal for Medical Education (Collab with Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and My Cancer Navigator)
Sia Eshani
Data expert
Sia Ehsani is a data expert and responsible for the entire data processing process.
He manages data collection and cleaning to in-depth analysis and visualisation. With a bachelor degree in Language Studies and master’s degree in Digital Humanities and Data Science & Big Data, he brings a unique combination of people-oriented thinking and technical skills to every project.
Proficient in tools such as SPSS, Forsta, CoPilot which he uses to manage surveys and deliver clear, customised dashboards and reports. He transforms raw data sets into clear insights that contribute to informed decision-making.
What sets Sia apart is his ability to distil a coherent narrative from large amounts of data. Combines technical knowledge with psychological insight, making an essential contribution to data-driven innovation in healthcare.
English-speaking. Also takes the lead in presenting results and recommendations.
