WELCOME TO THE WEBSITE OF WENDY S. HARPHAM, a doctor of internal medicine, 35-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]
Dr. Harpham cared for patients in her solo practice until 1990, when she was diagnosed with cancer. Forced to retire in 1993 due to ongoing illness, she turned to writing and speaking to raise awareness about the challenges of illness. Her work has explored ways that patients and their caregivers—healthcare professionals, aides, family, and friends—can promote patients’ healing.
Her early writing and speaking focused on cancer survivorship, such as adjusting to a new diagnosis, 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. In 2005, she broadened her scope to address patients dealing with any health challenge. Her writing increasing focused attention to improving clinical communication—the words healthcare professionals use to teach, advise, comfort, and motivate patients.
A defining area of Dr. Harpham’s work has been her work on healing hope, the centerpiece of her knowledge-hope-action approach to illness. All her writings and presentations foster the power of patients’ hope to help them make life the best it can be.
To read or participate in a discussion of healthy survivorship among patients, clinicians, caregivers, and others interested in modern medical care, visit Wendy's blog: Dr. Wendy Harpham on Healthy Survivorship.
Dr. Harpham’s writings took a turn with more intimate real-time reflections after her diagnosis of aplastic anemia in 2022. 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
