Out of Patients with Matthew Zachary Matthew Zachary

On today's show, friend, colleague, fellow young adult cancer survivor, advocate, speaker, blogger, and Stage IV melanoma bald guy, TJ Sharpe. He just celebrated his 8-year cancerversary and — spoiler alert — is still here alive, kicking, and staying just angry enough to keep poking a stick at the dumpster fire that is our modern-day healthcare system. His activism has made him one of the dominant voices in clinical trial and immunotherapy awareness for patients and HCPs and his superpower is translating the jargony BS of patient voice, and patient experience into a more digestible narrative that has made cancer suck less for countless others. More about TJ Sharpe at http://www.tjsharpe.com.

On today’s show, John Gorman, Founder of the Gorman Health Group, member of the Board of Directors of Henry Ford Health System’s Health Alliance Plan, and the Chairman at Nightingale Partners LLC which — to paraphrase — make things suck a whole less for underserved and economically disadvantaged communities by focusing on racial disparities in healthcare. His 30+ years experience in public service has given him a genuinely unique perch on which to sit atop, and his advocacy efforts have spawned almost a dozen entrepreneurial ventures in government health programs that ACTUALLY HELP PEOPLE. What a novel idea. So buckle up. You have been warned.

Christine Hodgdon is a globe-trotting, human Fodor conservation biologist turned patient “radvocate” (that would be my neologism for radical advocate) by way of her enduring the loss of her father to rare cancer at the same time of her own Dx of Stage IV Metastatic Cancer AND Thyroid Cancer. Gesundheit! She was 34. Among many other interesting things, we talk about the gaps in cancer research that exist because the patients are not involved. Guys? We’re the end user here. Dear Pharma: It might make sense to give patients a seat at the table to help you make the sausage that may one day course through our veins. You get the gist.

On today's show, we welcome Trevor Maxwell. Trevor is a husband, a writer, and a father to two teenage daughters. Two years ago, he was diagnosed with stage four metastatic colon cancer. He is a powerhouse advocate who never envisioned becoming an advocate. But that's how it works, right? You recognize a need, get angry that it is not being met, and become the accidental advocate. The need Trevor recognized was that, in the economy of cancer support, a dearth of gender-specific support existed for men, and only men. At Stupid Cancer, we did our best to make sure that we had gender-relevant support groups within the broader community of what we have in common. Still, Trevor struck precisely the right chord when he started up a group on Facebook called Man Up to Cancer. So this episode is about men and cancer and finding your tribe. Enjoy my conversation with Trevor Maxwell. Man Up to Cancer: https://www.manuptocancer.com/

On today's show, we welcome Julie Croner, Vice President of the Patient Leader Network at WEGO Health. Julie is a rare disease activist who has been educating and empowering patients for more than a decade with tools to better advocate for themselves and others. She and I met a while ago at one of those spectacularly stupid Pharma conferences where tokenism reigns supreme. These are the conferences where they ask patients to share their story FOR FREE—that's right, NO compensation for time or value, because that's their way. At the time, I was one of those suckers who did just that: Gave away the store that was my patient experience for free so the private sector could go off and make a fortune off the disenfranchised backs of patients. The upside? I got to meet Julie Croner. Julie knew better, so she went ahead and took up the charge at WEGO Health, which we'll learn about on the show. Tangential to this episode, you may want to consider scrolling back in my feed and checking out Episode 14 called "Pay Your F*****g Patients." You can tell this is a subject that really pisses me off, which is why – again – someone like Julie is the perfect person to chat with about all the things. Enjoy my talk with Julie Croner. WEGO Health: https://www.wegohealth.com. Episode 14: Pay the Patients!

Lilly Stairs is the Founder of Patient Authentic, which is exactly as it sounds: a bully pulpit that takes (1) the chocolate that is the health tech sector and (2) the peanut butter that are the nonprofits, and makes the Reeses Peanut Butter cup of social change that puts the patient at the forefront of every conversation. Advocates are not born. They are made, often of their own condition. Lilly is no exception having been diagnosed with psoriasis at 7, and then both psoriatic arthritis and Crohn's disease at 19. She's worked for Pharma, Bio, Patient Advocate Groups, and Nonprofit Organizations. She wears many hats. In addition to all those things, we spent time exploring the "donut hole of access" between the health-tech and nonprofit sectors—Twas an epic discussion.