Advocating for Health Equity:
Driving Change Through Every Story
Dr. Yvette Colón is a pancreatic cancer survivor, speaker, and health equity advocate who brings together lived experience, medical knowledge, and a deep commitment to patient voice. Through her speaking, writing, and advocacy work, she helps people better understand what it means to navigate cancer care, face medical racism, and push for more equitable treatment across the healthcare system.
Recent work includes TEDxKU at the University of Kansas, service on the PanCAN Health Equity Committee, involvement with Advancing Health Equity Catalyst, and completion of the Creatives for Social Change in Medicine certificate program in 2025 and 2026.
Insights and Guidance from Both Sides of the White Coat
On her blog, Dr. Yvette Colón shares powerful truths about survival, the impact of racism, and the experience of being dismissed by a healthcare system meant to heal. She challenges providers and institutions to confront inequities and take meaningful action.
With honesty and compassion, she equips readers with tools to advocate for themselves, navigate care confidently, and begin healing on their own terms.
“Was he not listening to us? I thought to myself. I couldn’t comprehend his failure to acknowledge the intolerable conditions of being bedridden for five days, unable to eat or drink, losing weight, and having dangerously low blood counts. The physical pain and emotional distress were overwhelming.”
An excerpt from her debut memoir “Fruit from the Manchineel Tree“
Bring Dr. Yvette Colón to Your Stage
Dr. Yvette Colón speaks with the rare clarity of someone who’s lived the full spectrum of care, as a provider, as a patient, and now as a passionate advocate. With deeply personal stories and a sharp understanding of systemic inequities, she brings truth, empathy, and urgency to every audience. Whether you’re planning a conference, podcast, or panel, her voice sparks reflection and inspires
change.
Her recent work includes TEDxKU, national health equity advocacy through PanCAN, and public-facing education rooted in survivorship, equity, and patient empowerment.
Watch Dr. Colón’s TEDx Talk
The Myth of the Cancer Warrior
What if asking cancer survivors to be warriors is doing more harm than good?
In her TEDxKU talk, Dr. Yvette Colón challenges the pressure placed on survivors to constantly demonstrate strength, positivity, and resilience. Through her own experience with pancreatic cancer, she offers a different vision of survivorship, one that makes room for vulnerability, grief, honesty, and humanity.
