A Conversation with Matthew Zachary, Founder, Stupid Cancer
LinkedIn: Matthew Zachary
Matthew Zachary has spent three decades fighting to make the American healthcare system less cruel, organizing millions through advocacy and media. A former concert pianist whose life was turned upside down by brain cancer at just 21, he founded Stupid Cancer, the largest nonprofit for young adults with cancer. He also launched The Stupid Cancer Show, widely regarded as the first healthcare podcast, which later evolved into the award-winning Out of Patients. He produced Cancer Mavericks, a documentary series about the rebel patients who changed modern oncology. He is CEO and Co-Founder of We The Patients, a national movement organizing patients into collective civic power, and the author of We the Patients: Understanding, Navigating, and Surviving America’s Healthcare Nightmare (Wiley, May 2026) with Jen Singer.
Listen to the Conversation
Episode Takeaways
- We The Patients shifts from personal survivorship to organized civic power.
- Financial toxicity in healthcare is structural, not incidental.
- ACA reforms improved access, but administrative friction persists.
- The tension between patient mission and profit margin remains unresolved.
- Pricing opacity continues to undermine consumer trust.
- Fear of recurrence is an enduring reality of survivorship.
- A bipartisan patient voter bloc could reshape healthcare policy.
- Reform must focus on consumer protections, not ideology.
- Advocacy may need to confront insurance design more directly.
- Cultural momentum suggests patients are ready to organize.
About the Show
Join digital health advocate and author Gil Bashe, on Health Unabashed, as he discusses the power of collaboration and innovation in improving care across the health ecosystem. Sharing stories and insights from a global perspective, Gil looks at the companies and people who are making a difference and offers his opinions on how to connect the dots to transform the industry for good.
Tune in weekdays at 10:30 am, 6:30 pm, & 2:30 am ET.
Join the conversation on Twitter at #HealthUnaBASHEd
The Hosts
Gil Bashe
Managing Partner, Chair Global Health, FINN Partners
LinkedIn: Gil Bashe
X: @Gil_Bashe
Gregg Masters
Director, Health Innovation Media
LinkedIn: Gregg Masters, MPH
X: @GreggMastersMPH