Erica Campbell walked away from corporate life, took a hard left from the British Embassy, and found her calling writing checks for families nobody else sees. As Executive Director of Pinky Swear Foundation, she doesn’t waste time on fluff. Her team pays rent, fills gas tanks, and gives sick kids' parents the one thing they don’t have—time. Then, breast cancer hit her. She became the patient. Wrote a book about it. Didn’t sugarcoat a damn thing. We talk about parking fees, grief, nonprofit burnout, and how the hell you decide which families get help and which don't. Also: AOL handles, John Hughes, and letters from strangers that make you cry. Erica is part Punky Brewster, part Rosie the Robot, and part Lisa Simpson—with just enough GenX Long Island sarcasm to make it all land. This one sticks.

RELATED LINKS

• Pinky Swear Foundation
• The Mastectomy I Always Wanted (Book)
• Erica on LinkedIn
• Think & Link: Erica Campbell
• “Like the Tale of a Starfish” - Blog Post
• “Cancer Diagnosis, Messy Life, Financial Support” - Blog Post

FEEDBACK

Like this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship inquiries, email podcast@matthewzachary.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Allyson with a Y. Ocean with two Ls. And zero chill when it comes to changing the face of cancer care. Dr. Allyson Ocean has been quietly—loudly—at the center of every major cancer breakthrough, nonprofit board, and science-backed gut punch you didn’t know you needed to hear. In this episode, she joins me in-studio for a conversation two decades in the making. We talk twin life, genetics, mitochondrial disease, and why she skipped the Doublemint Twins commercial but still ended up as one of the most recognizable forces in oncology. We cover her nonprofit hits, from Michael’s Mission to Let's Win Pancreatic Cancer to launching the American Jewish Medical Association—yes, that’s a thing now. We get personal about compassion in medicine, burnout, bad food science, and microplastics in your blood. She also drops the kind of wisdom only someone with her résumé and sarcasm can. It's raw. It's real. It's the kind of conversation we should’ve had 20 years ago—but better late than never.

RELATED LINKS:

– Dr. Allyson Ocean on LinkedIn

– Let's Win Pancreatic Cancer

– NovoCure Leadership Page

– Michael’s Mission

– American Jewish Medical Association

– The POLG Foundation

– Cancer Buddy App (Bone Marrow and Cancer Foundation)

– Dr. Ocean at OncLive

FEEDBACK:

Like this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship inquiries, email podcast@matthewzachary.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sponsored by Invivyd, Inc.

Nobody wants to hear about COVID-19 anymore. Especially not cancer patients. But if you’ve got a suppressed immune system thanks to chemo, radiation, stem cell transplants—or any of the other alphabet soup in your chart—then no, it’s not over. It never was. While everyone else is getting sweaty at music festivals, you’re still dodging a virus that could knock you flat.

In this episode, Matthew Zachary and Matt Toresco say the quiet part out loud: many immunocompromised people may not even know they have options beyond vaccines. Why? Because the system doesn’t bother to tell them. So we’re doing it instead. We teamed up with Invivyd to help get the word out about tools other than vaccines that can help prevent COVID-19. We break down the why, the what, and the WTF of COVID-19 risk for cancer patients and why every oncologist should be talking about this.

No fear-mongering. No sugarcoating. Just two guys with mics who’ve been through it and want to make sure you don’t get blindsided. It’s fast, funny, and furious—with actual facts. You’ve got more power than you think. Time to use it.

RELATED LINKS

Expand Their Options

Invivyd

Matt Toresco on LinkedIn

Out of Patients podcast

FEEDBACK

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Lisa Shufro is the storyteller’s storyteller. A musician turned innovation strategist, TEDMed curator, and unapologetic truth-teller, Lisa doesn’t just craft narratives—she engineers constellations out of chaos. We go way back to the early TEDMed days, where she taught doctors, scientists, and technocrats how not to bore an audience to death. In this episode, we talk about how storytelling in healthcare has been weaponized, misunderstood, misused, and still holds the power to change lives—if done right. Lisa challenges the idea that storytelling should be persuasive and instead argues it should be connective. We get into AI, the myth of objectivity, musical scars, Richard Simmons, the Vegas healthcare experiment, and the real reason your startup pitch is still trash. If you’ve ever been told to “just tell your story,” this episode is the permission slip to do it your way. With a bow, not a violin.

RELATED LINKS

Lisa Shufro’s Website

LinkedIn

Super Curious Archive

Eight Principles for Storytelling in Innovation

StoryCorps Interview

Coursera Instructor Profile

WhatMatters Project

FEEDBACK

Like this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship inquiries, email podcast@matthewzachary.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What happens when you blend the soul of Mr. Rogers, the boldness of RuPaul, and just a pinch of Carrie Bradshaw? You get Sally Wolf.

She’s a Harvard and Stanford powerhouse who ditched corporate media to help people actually flourish at work and in life—because cancer kicked her ass and she kicked it back, with a pole dance routine on Netflix for good measure.

In this episode, we unpack what it means to live (really live) with metastatic breast cancer. We talk about the toxic PR machine behind "pink ribbon" cancer, how the healthcare system gaslights survivors when treatment ends, and why spreadsheets and dance classes saved her sanity. Sally doesn’t just survive. She rewrites the script, calls out the BS, and shows up in full color.

If you've ever asked “Why me?”—or refused to—this one’s for you.

RELATED LINKS:

Sally Wolf's Website

LinkedIn

Instagram

Cosmopolitan Essay: "What It's Like to Have the 'Good' Cancer"

Oprah Daily Article: "Five Things I Wish Everyone Understood About My Metastatic Breast Cancer Diagnosis"

Allure Photo Shoot

The Story of Our Trauma Podcast

FEEDBACK:

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episode Description

Audra Moran is the President and CEO of OCRA—Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance—which means she spends her days doing things most of us wouldn’t survive five minutes doing: merging nonprofits, leading national patient support programs, funding lifesaving research, surviving pharma grant hell, and trying to reach every woman in America who might be slipping through the cracks. We talk about her time working with the Helen Keller National Center (yes, she knows finger spelling), her accidental journey into cancer nonprofit leadership, the weirdness of dermoid cysts, the ridiculousness of writing grants, and the absolute hellscape of diagnosis delay. Oh, and the fallopian tubes. You’ll never look at them the same way again.

This episode is funny, raw, deeply personal, and loaded with Gen X movie references and random facts about Paul Rudd, Terminator 2, and flipbook apps at 3am. Audra drops wisdom, humility, and a few hot takes on AI, advocacy, and what it really means to lead when the boulder keeps rolling downhill.

RELATED LINKS

Audra Moran on LinkedIn

Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA)

Audra's profile on OCRA

CURE Today interview: Leading the Fight

OCRA + AI & Data: Overlooked Podcast

FEEDBACK

Like this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship inquiries, email podcast@matthewzachary.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Christine Verini is a pharmacist by training, a nonprofit CEO by title, and an unapologetic empath by design. She now leads CancerCare, one of the oldest, least-known, and most impactful organizations in the country that actually helps real cancer patients deal with the practical garbage no one likes to talk about—like paying rent, affording a ride to chemo, or feeding their kids.

We talk about her career pivot from industry to impact, what it's like trying to scale empathy without losing your soul, and the daily gut-punch of knowing there are millions of people who still have no idea that CancerCare exists. Christine gets real about leadership, advocacy, burnout, and why being “pan-cancer” matters more than ever in a world obsessed with biomarkers, buckets, and branding.

She also dishes on what AI gets dead wrong, what patients actually want when they call for help, and why “ghosting” someone with cancer is still a thing. Buckle up. This one's packed with heart, brains, and a little righteous rage.

RELATED LINKS

• CancerCare
• Christine Verini on LinkedIn
• Christine’s CEO Announcement – PR Newswire
• Cancer Health 25: Christine Verini
• Christine on HealthyWomen
• BIO Convention Speaker Profile

FEEDBACK

Like this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship inquiries, email podcast@matthewzachary.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jennifer Finkelstein is not here for your pity, your pinkwashed slogans, or your performative awareness campaigns. She’s a 20-year young adult breast cancer survivor who turned trauma into a blueprint for action and built 5 Under 40, a no-BS nonprofit supporting women diagnosed with breast cancer under 40.

In this episode, we go full Gen X therapy session—from SNL nostalgia and cold caps to the absurdity of finding out you have cancer while looking for the remote. Jen drops real talk about founding a nonprofit when nothing existed for her age group, why mental health support isn’t optional, and how passing down designer scarves can mean arming someone for battle.

If you’re looking for honesty, grit, and a few inappropriate jokes about gastroenterology, this one’s for you. You'll laugh, you might cry, and you’ll definitely leave knowing why Jennifer Finkelstein is a survivor, a fighter, and a damn legend.

RELATED LINKS

5 Under 40 Foundation

Jennifer Finkelstein on LinkedIn

About 5 Under 40: Board of Directors

Dan’s Papers: 5 Under 40 Supports Young Breast Cancer Survivors

FEEDBACK

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Let me know if you want shorter pull quotes, audiogram text, or promotional copy for LinkedIn, Instagram, or your newsletter.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.