The growing prominence of health tech enlisting artificial intelligence has led to a lot of practical applications for automating a wide variety of administrative tasks, analyzing medical images for patterns associated with clinical decision support, and identifying targets for drug development. But looking to the future, questions abound as to other applications in which AI will be applied. Some lawmakers want no limits put on AI applications for the next 10 years. But in healthcare, one thing needs to be clear. The role of AI should be to support the human clinician’s touch, not replace it. The challenge will be figuring out the balance and parameters of AI in the years to come. In an interview, Reverba Global CEO Cheryl Lubbert talked about the need for balance between automation and the human touch.
Lubbert’s career is defined by the convergence of science, strategy, and empathy — three pillars that now shape her leadership at Reverba Global.
Before Reverba, Lubbert held senior leadership roles at Immunex, Abbott, Amgen, and Bristol Myers Squibb. At these life science companies, she was involved in or oversaw product development and commercialization across complex therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular, diabetes and immunology. These experiences gave her an insider’s view of how clinical and commercial decisions are made and where gaps exist.
Lubbert recalled noticing that although pharma excelled at advancing science, it often fell short in how it engaged with the people it was meant to serve. That disconnect drove her to create one of the first U.S.-based patient engagement companies, years before “patient-centricity” became a buzzword. After the company’s founding in 2002 as a boutique consulting firm, Lubbert managed its explosive growth by co-founding Health Perspectives Group (now Reverba Global). She has built her career helping biopharma teams translate scientific innovation into programs that resonate with patients, providers, and regulators. Lubbert brings that dual perspective to her current role: she understands the regulatory, operational, and scientific demands of life sciences. She also knows how to design systems and communications that are tech enabled but also human-first.
Lubbert’s track record across hundreds of programs has shaped Reverba’s focus on trust, transparency, and measurable engagement — with patients, providers and other key stakeholders — throughout the entire biopharma product lifecycle.
The power of empathy
When it comes to listening to patients’ concerns, it is critical to have a human being with medical training who can explain with understanding and grace the complexity of a diagnosis or treatment options in a meaningful way. Listening with empathy isn’t a skill that can be outsourced to a software program. When it comes to navigating cultural and emotional nuance, a person with a strong sense of medical ethics is an absolute must for this role.
True innovation in pharma communications isn’t replacing people, it’s understanding their experiences to make clinical trials and care better.
“AI is incredibly powerful, but it doesn’t build trust,” Lubbert said. “It can analyze patterns, personalize content, and scale communication—but it doesn’t understand context in the way a human does. Especially in healthcare, where people are sometimes vulnerable and uncertain, human connection isn’t just ‘nice to have’ – it’s a requirement.”
The strategy for AI in healthcare shouldn’t be likened to Deep Blue vs chess champion Garry Kasparov, which oversimplifies the issue. Robotic surgery offers a better example. The robot performing any procedure must be guided by an experienced surgeon who can anticipate potential complications and correct mistakes. The balance isn’t about choosing one over the other. The guiding model should be to design systems in which AI takes care of the repeatable, scalable tasks—so humans can focus on what only humans can do.
Lubbert noted that in medical affairs, AI might synthesize data from thousands of sources to educate a patient before a medical visit, but it’s still the healthcare professional (HCP) who builds trust and answers the questions that matter at that moment.
In healthcare, people don’t just want fast answers, they want answers they can trust, Lubbert emphasized.
“Although we can automate processes, we can’t automate credibility. That’s why, in a world that is automating rapidly, we need to protect the human interaction of healthcare. That conclusion does not arise from sentimentality. It is because connection, understanding, and trust are clinical assets. If we lose that, we lose something essential,” Lubbert said.
Clinical trials and trust
Clinical trial recruitment is fertile ground for a discussion of AI and ethics. It takes months to find candidates for clinical trials, particularly from vulnerable members of the population, because of trust issues that stem from historic ethical lapses from the Tuskegee Syphilis Study to the Willowbrook Hepatitis Study, noted by an article published by the Association of Clinical Research Professionals. How can an algorithm capture underrepresented or marginalized communities that are not online? No algorithm can rebuild that trust. People do that – through co-creation, listening, shared language and genuine dialogue.
No one’s healthcare experience is exactly the same, so understanding the range of human experiences is important. The risk of relying only on AI is that you underrepresent or even miss a group of lived experiences, especially in a global context across a range of healthcare systems and cultures.
“Don’t tell me what my experience is, ask me what my experience is! Perception is reality, and that can only come from the individual,” said Lubbert.
AI should never replace human responsibility to be thoughtful, ethical, and emotionally attuned. The most meaningful outcomes happen when technology enables us to be more human—not less.
When clinicians engage patients, particularly people dealing with serious or chronic conditions, they’re not just delivering information, Lubbert observed. Clinicians are navigating fear, cultural context, lived experience, and deeply personal decision-making. That’s where AI, for all its promise, can fall short.
Patient and provider engagement in tech-enabled communication
Originally known as a leader in compliant, tech-enabled patient engagement, Reverba Global has expanded its reach and capabilities to support medical affairs and HCP engagement, recognizing that scientific communication, trust, and clarity are essential across all stakeholders. Reverba Global’s depth of expertise in HCP engagement, scientific communication, and global reach, supports medical affairs teams with the same rigor, agility, and insight the company has always brought to patient programs.
Lubbert called attention to the company’s reverbaBRIDGE® proprietary platform. It is designed to support compliant, high‑impact engagement across clinical and commercial programs to connect patients, trial sites, sponsors, HCPs, and advocacy networks with a unified, technology-driven engagement experience.
Structured to support patient and HCP-facing interactions, the comprehensive platform integrates SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 compliance directly into its architecture. This means that every touchpoint — from pre-screening to content delivery to stakeholder portals — is designed with rigorous, independently audited safeguards in place.
Reverba empowers life sciences companies to provide human-touch, compliant programs ranging from patient recruitment and education to peer mentor programs, co-created content, and field team enablement.
“We are reshaping healthcare by elevating the communication between patients and providers,” Lubbert said. “Our role is to help life sciences companies engage patients and HCPs meaningfully—whether they’re participating in a trial, navigating treatment, or sharing their story. We do this by combining lived experiences with data-driven insights using our powerful proprietary technology platforms.”
Patient stories are elevated as trusted sources of insight, connection, and motivation, but always grounded in scientific context from data and providers. By combining lived experience with accurate, science-based messaging, Reverba Global creates communications that are not only empathetic, but also trusted and actionable.
This fusion of human insight and scientific rigor is central to how people build trust and drive impact across both patient and HCP engagement, Lubbert explained. Patients are forced to make decisions about their health on complex topics every day, and they deserve access to accurate, data-driven information.
“We elevate real patient stories not as testimonials, but as powerful, peer-driven education that fosters trust and action,” Lubbert said. “It has to be anchored in science. That’s what makes it credible—not just moving. The most effective engagement happens when lived experience and data with scientific context are brought together.”
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