WELCOME TO THE WEBSITE OF WENDY S. HARPHAM, a doctor of internal medicine, 33-year cancer survivor, best-selling author, nationally recognized speaker and patient advocate. Dr. Harpham has used her useful perspective to help patients become Healthy Survivors: “Survivors who (1) get good care* and (2) live as fully as possible.”  [*good care = high-quality care in keeping with patients’ values]

Since her diagnosis, she has played an important role in raising awareness about the challenges of survivorship, such as coping with post-treatment fatigue, raising healthy children when a parent has cancer, participating in clinical trials, and finding hope that helps patients become Healthy Survivors. Shared insights and tips encourage both clinicians and patients to talk about these challenges and work together in a shared mission of helping patients heal.

A defining area of Dr. Harpham’s work has been her writings on healing hope, the centerpiece of her knowledge-hope-action approach to health challenges. All her work fosters the power of hope that helps patients become Healthy Survivors.

Dr. Harpham put out a call-to-action for the oncology community to adopt a single definition for “survivorship.” Her proposed definition — “the science and art of making life the best it can be after a cancer diagnosis”— prompts patients and healthcare professionals to return to the roots of the survivorship movement premised on moving away from victimhood and toward empowerment and hope “from the time of diagnosis on.”

To read or participate in a discussion of healthy survivorship among patients, clinicians, caregivers and anyone interested in modern medical care, visit Wendy's blog: Dr. Wendy Harpham on Healthy Survivorship.

In 2022, Dr. Harpham’s writings took a turn in response to her diagnosis of aplastic anemia, with more intimate real-time refletcions. Over the subsequent years, her bone marrow disease responded better than everyone’s hopes, let alone expectations. She now enjoys renewed health, with greater passion than ever for helping other patients become Healthy Survivors.

Dr. Harpham's bio             (Video) 15-min keynote for Nat’l Academies of Sciences
Finding Hope That Heals — free e-Book! (Video) Texas Women's Hall of Fame Induction