Susan Strong

The day Susan Strong was diagnosed with breast cancer, she stopped on her way home from the doctor's office to buy a bottle of expensive champagne. She broke the news to her partner with a toast: "Here's to kicking cancer's ass!"

Soon after, Susan quit her job as a middle school teacher.

Working hard and fitting in wasn't working anymore. Her second cancer diagnosis gave her the courage let go of pain and make her life about PLAY: Living with Passion and Purpose; A North Star of Love; the values of Abundance and Authenticity, and a commitment to remaining Young at heart. Susan says she plans to die young, "as late in life as possible."

She shares her secrets of PLAY to empower her audiences create the life they love and live with resilience and joy.

Susan is passionate about the meaningful inclusion of patient stakeholders throughout the research process to ensure that the outcomes measured are outcomes most important to patients. Susan has a lifetime of experience as a patient stakeholder across a variety of conditions. Diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma at the age of 17, she understands the experiences unique to pediatric and AYA cancer patients/survivors. As a 35-year cancer survivor, Susan understands the challenges of long-term survivorship, including late effects of treatment and long-term follow up for high risk complications. She has personally encountered severe aortic stenosis (treated via TAVR in 2014) and invasive Her2+ breast cancer in 2017.