This targeted literature review aims to identify practical, impactful examples of survivor leadership across disease communities, to generate insights for the stroke survivor community. 
Across HIV, rare diseases, and cancer, survivor leadership succeeded where it was structurally enabled. 
Not all cases demonstrated leadership (e.g., Quality of Cancer Survivorship Care Framework); indicating that influence alone, without a structural role, does not constitute leadership. 
This targeted literature review provides an evidence-based blueprint for linking governance of acute clinical care and transition to communities with lived experience of life after stroke, enabling survivors to become more involved across the stroke health ecosystem. 

Bright Spot examples illustrate that there isn’t one leadership model; different mechanisms could work in different parts of the stroke health ecosystem. 

• Survivor leadership can be enabled and strengthened through structured training, technical education, mentorship, and opportunities to apply learning. 
• Experienced patient leaders can emerge through sustained involvement, building confidence, technical expertise, networks, and governance experience. 
• Influence can expand over time, with a growing pool of experienced leaders broadening lived-experience representation across research, guidelines, services, and policy. 

 Framework developments emerging from this review include where leadership occurs, what form it takes, what enables it and what influence it has. 

• Establishment of this framework could help advance treatment and care innovations in stroke