Susan Bhatti has been working in Regulatory Affairs in the pharmaceutical and clinical research industry for more than 25 years. She is Director of Global Regulatory and Scientific Policy at Merck BV and supports the development of regulatory and scientific policies in Europe. She is chair of the Clinical Research Expert Group at the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) as well as co-chair of a subgroup focussed on patient engagement. She is currently co-leading the multi-stakeholder initiative on cross-border access to clinical trials in Europe (EU-X-CT), which is a joint undertaking by the European Forum for Good Clinical Practice (EFGCP) and EFPIA.