Ellen Miller-Sonet leads the strategic initiatives and national policy agenda for CancerCare, the leading national organization providing free, professional support services and information to help people manage the emotional, practical, and financial challenges of cancer. She was the principal architect and author of the landmark 2016 CancerCare Patient Access and Engagement report, which reflects the survey responses of more than 3,000 unique people diagnosed with cancer. It laid the groundwork for understanding the true ‘costs’ – physical, emotional, financial – of the cancer experience for patients and families nationwide.
She is currently leading CancerCare’s Patient Values Initiative which builds on this report and is a multi-pronged, long-term project intended to reframe the national healthcare policy dialogue to include what is important to patients and their families, and to make sure that patients’ values and priorities are incorporated into treatment decision-making. This work includes extensive research among providers and patients to better understand the extent to which clinicians solicit and patients articulate their personal quality or life preferences before treatment plans are finalized.
Ms. Sonet frequently speaks and writes about cancer patient experiences and strategies to help them access care and providers deliver the care that is best for each individual patient. She is a steering committee member of Avalere’s Patient Perspective Value Framework initiative, and the National Minority Quality Forum’s Sustainable Healthy Communities Diverse Cancer Communities Working Group.
Prior to CancerCare, Ms. Sonet served for nearly 17 years as vice president of marketing at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where she was an avid patient advocate devoted to understanding the complex nature of healthcare decision-making and the needs of people affected by cancer. Prior to that she worked for pharmaceutical companies, marketing over-the-counter brands.