Liza Bernstein, Patient Advocate

Patient Advocate, Interdisciplinary Artist, Innovation Consultant Devoted to Connection and Repair. Liza Bernstein, a Third Culture Kid who is NED (No Evidence of Disease) after three cancers is a patient advocate, interdisciplinary artist, and innovation consultant devoted to connection and repair. Liza Bernstein's advocacy serves a global audience via social media, conference attendance, speaking and media engagements, peer mentoring, and relationship-building. She also collaborates, co-designs, and advises across the multi-stakeholder healthcare spectrum to break down silos, foster understanding, promote education and empowerment, and accelerate change. In late 2010, Liza began to explore the worlds of breast cancer and healthcare innovation on Twitter and never looked back. Her work at the intersection of healthcare innovation, technology, and human-centered design has made impact at groundbreaking companies and organizations including Cure Forward, Science 37, CanSurround, Symplur, Medidata, Omicure, and BioNews. Liza's background in human-centered design includes projects with RGA/LA, IDEO, Bruce Mau, and Medicine X Design Studios. A Stanford Medicine X founding ePatient scholar, advisor, and former board member, Liza has given talks internationally on topics including Patient-Centered Design; Dignity in Healthcare; Mental Health and Cancer; Death and Bereavement; Social Media and Patient/Clinician Relationships; and Shared-Decision Making. Liza, who is also an interdisciplinary artist (ceramics, Capoeira Angola, writing), is a TCK (Third Culture Kid) who grew up in South Africa, France, and the US. She is passionate about connecting and collaborating across vastly differing cultures and digs deep into her life experience and expansive creative training to do whatever it takes to facilitate understanding and communication—she’s no stranger to improv, which has the added benefit of yielding lots of laughs. Recently, Liza executive produced, directed, and hosted A Window Into Rare, Rare Disease Day Panel Discussion at BioNews, where she was the Senior Director of Patient and Community Engagement. She is currently preparing a talk on Innovation in Surgery from the Patient Point of View for the Inworks Innovation Initiative, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.