Desiree A. Walker (she/her/hers)

Young Survival Coalition
New York, NY

Desirée A. H. Walker, BA, Young Survival Coalition was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 38, which recurred at age 47. For many who have had to fight breast cancer, Desirée serves as an advocate for patients by openly speaking about her diagnoses to audiences nationally and internationally. The core of her message is to encourage patients to truly know their body and feel empowered to steward self, mind, body and soul.

She volunteers with Young Survival Coalition as President, Board of Directors. She is a member of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship’s (NCCS) Cancer Policy Advocacy Training Steering Committee; The NCI Cancer Prevention and Control Central Institutional Review Board; Society of Integrative Oncology’s (SIO) Patient Advocate Committee and Health Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Task Force; and the NCI SWOG Recruitment and Retention, Patient Advocate and DEI Monitoring Committees. She’s a Community Partner/Patient Advocate in the Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Institute’s Cancer Health Equity Accelerator Group. She also serves on Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Patient Advocacy and Community Advisory Boards. Desirée is also a member of The Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard’s “Health Literacy Resources for Clinical Research” and “Collaborative Cross-Industry Glossary for Clinical Research” Workgroups and is a former member of the CDC’s Advisory Council on Breast Cancer in Young Women.

Desirée has served as a panelist at SXSW’s International Women’s Day event, the FDA/OCE Educational Series - Conversations in Cancer and SIO’s Sleeping Well After Cancer: Translating Patient-Centered Research Into Practice, SIO 2020’s Panel: Health Disparities in Integrative Oncology and SWOG/The Hope Foundation’s Crucial Conversations: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at SWOG: Moving from Intention to Action. She has provided a patient advocate perspective at NCCS’s Cancer Policy Roundtable, AAADV Annual Meetings, The Cornell Center for Health Equity’s Tri-Institutional Symposium on Health Equity and the 12th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities. She has presented on Advocates Mentoring Advocates at the NIEHS & NCI’s Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program Annual Meeting.

She is a graduate of the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s (NBCC) Project LEAD® and attended numerous NBCC Hill Days. As a patient advocate, she’s attended numerous international scientific conferences. Desirée has been a consumer reviewer for the Department of Defense's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program, a merit reviewer for PCORI and a community partner reviewer on the Cornell Center for Health Equity Pilot Studies Review Committee. As a patient and research advocate, she brings her experience to a team of cancer researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and MSKCC.

Desirée’s diagnoses motivated her to become a patient advocate to share her talents and aid diverse communities. She uses her platform to be a voice for the voiceless and pay forward by educating and empowering people around the world. Most importantly, she makes time to “smell the roses”, feels blessed to enjoy time with family and friends, and bake gourmet bread pudding. She is a foodie, enjoys traveling, the performing arts and sporting events.

Presentation(s):

• E05 - [IN-PERSON/RECORDED] Communicating With the Public: What Does the Public Have to Say?

  Tuesday, December 5, 2023
  4:00 PM – 5:00 PM ET