Help Wanted: Patient Voices Needed
Once is a blue moon an event occurs that transforms your life into one with greater meaning and satisfaction. This year I attended the American Association for Cancer Research's (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego. I was selected to be part of the AACR's Scientist-Survivor Program (SSP). Attending this event was that life changing experience. Before arriving at the Scientist-Survivor Program I called myself an advocate, but I really didn't have a clear understanding what that entailed. I know an advocate is someone who supports a cause or idea. Advocates speak out on issues that they care about and offer ways to improve upon them. But the concept of advocacy was still confusing to me. When someone would ask me to describe my advocacy work I didn’t know where to focus my response. Many people are referred to as advocates, but they seem to be doing a lot of different things. Why were they all called advocates? When I attended the opening session of the SSP program a