E-Newsletter - September 2022
Alliance Patient Advocate Committee


Alliance WELCOMES THREE NEW PATIENT ADVOCATES

Bringing a wealth of diverse experiences - ranging from industry partner to world traveler to nursing - is what three remarkable and accomplished individuals will do for the Alliance Patient Advocate Committee this fall. Alliance welcomes these new members as the committee expands to further facilitate the patient perspective throughout all Alliance scientific, modality, and administrative committees.

Todd Kennedy, of Orange County, California, brings experience and perspective to the committee as a healthcare business professional, myeloma patient, and advocate. Retired in 2020 from a career in the pharma industry, Mr. Kennedy has redirected his focus towards patient advocacy with the goal of leveraging his professional and personal experience to support key stakeholders that are best positioned to accelerate cancer research and enhance patient access. He has developed diverse patient insights through active 1-to-1 coaching of myeloma patients and by co-leading a monthly support group of more than 700 members. Mr. Kennedy will serve on the Alliance Cancer Care Delivery Research Committee.

Kelly Shanahan, of South Lake Tahoe, California, had everything going for her: a successful ob-gyn practice; a precocious nine-year-old daughter; and a well-used passport from traveling all over the world with her family to attend conferences, with a libel dose of vacation on the side. When she was diagnosed with stage IIB breast cancer, Ms. Shanahan considered it a mere bump in the road; she returned to work two weeks after her bilateral mastectomy and continued to work all through the four months of chemo. Fast forward five years later, her cancer returned with a vengeance and its side effects did cost her her career, but she found a new purpose in advocacy. Ms. Shanahan will serve on the Alliance Symptom Intervention Committee.

Stephanie Walker, of Tarboro, North Carolina, stays busy advocating for men and women in rural areas, including the area she lives in, and for equal access to quality healthcare, treatment modalities, and resources. She is a metastatic breast cancer survivor and registered nurse with nearly 40 years of clinical practice and secondary teaching experience. The last 15 years of nursing she has worked in hospice, end of life, care. Her advocacy has come largely since 2018 when she attended her first national breast cancer event, Living Beyond Breast Cancer’s Conference on Metastatic Breast Cancer. Ms. Walker will serve on the Alliance Symptom Intervention Committee.

 

 

 

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