CANCER
SURVIVOR
KEYNOTE
SPEAKER
CANCER SURVIVOR
KEYNOTE
SPEAKER
ABOUT MATTHEW ZACHARY
Matthew Zachary is a cancer survivor keynote speaker who helps healthcare organizations, oncology conferences, and patient advocacy groups understand the real world impact of serious illness. Diagnosed with brain cancer at age 21, he brings more than two decades of national patient advocacy and healthcare industry experience to audiences seeking credible, lived perspective on survivorship and patient experience.
Matthew delivers one of the rare keynote experiences that resonates with clinicians, executives, and patient leaders at the same time. He translates lived experience into clear operational insight that healthcare organizations can actually use.
CLIENT TESTIMONIALS
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—Walgreens
Matthew should be on everyone’s top ten celebrity healthcare speakers list. He is engaging, inspirational, personable, hysterical, and very, very real.”
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—Stonybrook Cancer Center
Matthew was bar none one of the best keynotes we've ever had. His storytelling and his music single-handedly mesmerized a theater full of 1,000 medical professionals. He is a must-have speaker at any event.”
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—Acadamy of Oncology Nurse Naviators
Matthew brought an entire audience of executives to tears, cheers, and back again at our Specialty Summer with his unique story, expertise, and comedic Gen X bent.”
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—Magellin RX Management
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A TRUSTED VOICE IN AMERICAN HEALTHCARE
For more than two decades, healthcare organizations, Fortune 500 companies, and national patient advocacy groups have booked Matthew Zachary as a cancer survivor keynote speaker on cancer survivorship, patient experience, healthcare policy, and healthcare system friction. Diagnosed with rare pediatric brain cancer at age 21, he combines lived patient experience, deep healthcare industry expertise, and professional stagecraft to deliver keynote presentations that give healthcare leaders, clinicians, and executives clear, practical insight into modern care delivery and the real world impact of serious illness.
Given six months to live at age 21, brain cancer survivor Matthew Zachary now ranks among the most booked healthcare keynote speakers in the United States, known for translating patient experience, survivorship, and system failure into clear insight for healthcare executives and clinical leaders.
His diverse lived experiences enrich his appearances, consistently delivering lasting impact and ensuring that audiences of all sizes leave inspired, motivated, and empowered to live their best lives.
His lived experience shapes every keynote, equipping healthcare executives, clinicians, and patient leaders with clear, actionable perspective they can use to improve care delivery and patient experience.
SIGNATURE KEYNOTES
Matthew Zachary delivers keynote presentations grounded in lived cancer survivorship, national patient advocacy leadership, and three decades inside the American healthcare system. Each program is custom tailored for healthcare executives, life sciences organizations, employers, and patient advocacy audiences.
We The Patients: Turning Survivorship Into Collective Power
Based on his forthcoming book We The Patients: Understanding, Navigating, and Surviving America’s Healthcare Nightmare, Matthew examines how individual patient stories reveal systemic failure across modern care delivery. He connects denial, delay, cost exposure, and administrative burden to the real people living inside the data. Drawing on three decades of national advocacy work, he outlines how patients, employers, and healthcare leaders can move from fragmented voices to coordinated influence.
Audience takeaway
Leaders gain a clear understanding of where the system breaks down and what practical steps strengthen trust, transparency, and patient centered care.
Best for
Health systems
Health plans
Life sciences and pharma
Employer health leaders
Healthcare conferences
Trust: Fixing the Credibility Crisis in Healthcare Communication
Matthew examines how institutional language and compliance driven messaging continue to erode trust across modern care delivery. He connects jargon, empty empathy, and credibility gaps to the real patients, caregivers, and consumers forced to navigate the system every day. Drawing on his work across health systems, life sciences organizations, and national campaigns, he shows how leaders can move from performative communication to clear, human language that rebuilds trust.
Audience takeaway
Leaders gain a clear understanding of why institutional language erodes credibility and what practical steps restore clarity, trust, and meaningful engagement.
Best for
Healthcare marketing and communications teams
Life sciences and pharma organizations
Health systems and provider networks
Patient experience and consumer engagement leaders
Policy, advocacy, and public affairs organizations
Partial Client List
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At 21, after brain cancer, Matthew Zachary was offered chemotherapy that could slightly improve survival but permanently damage his hands. As a concert pianist, that cost was too high. In this keynote for Magellan Rx Management, he explores patient autonomy and the tension between statistics and identity.
WATCH MATTHEW LIVE
As the closing keynote for CancerCon 2017 in Denver, Matthew Zachary commands a room of 600 young adult cancer survivors with a message about choice, autonomy, and collective power. Part rally cry, part reckoning, this address captures the moment a grassroots movement matured into a national force built by patients, for patients.
In this hybrid keynote for Quest Analytics, Matthew Zachary blends live piano with personal narrative to trace his journey from brain tumor survivor to national patient advocate. Through music written in recovery and hard earned perspective, he challenges audiences to see the human being behind the data and to build systems that honor autonomy, empathy, and lived experience.