Cancer Rights Law: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Cancer Rights Law provides an overview of key areas of the law that often come into play for individuals who have been diagnosed with cancer and their caregivers, including health insurance, employment, disability insurance, genetics, estate planning and medical decision making, and finances and consumer rights.

Monica Fawzy Bryant, Esq., is a cancer rights attorney, speaker, and author, dedicated to improving access to, and availability of, quality information on health carerelated issues. Ms. Bryant is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer for Triage Cancer, a national, nonprofit organization that provides education and resources on cancer survivorship issues.

Previously, Ms. Bryant was Midwest Regional Director for a national cancer rights organization, where she forged relationships with cancer organizations, hospitals, law firms, other community partners, and members of underserved communities. Prior to relocating to Chicago, Ms. Bryant served as Legislative Counsel for U.S. Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez and Law Clerk for U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. During her time in Congress, Ms. Bryant focused on health, justice, civil rights, and women's issues. She was also heavily involved in the nomination hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.

Throughout her career, Ms. Bryant has provided hundreds of educational seminars, written articles and blogs, and appeared on television and radio shows discussing health care-related legal issues.

Additionally, Ms. Bryant is an Adjunct Law Professor at John Marshall School of Law in Chicago, teaching a class on Cancer Rights. Ms. Bryant has served as ACT Lead for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network—Great Lakes Division and Vice Chair, American Bar Association's (ABA's) Breast Cancer Initiatives Executive Committee. Currently, she is Chair of the (ABA) Breast Cancer Initiatives Executive Committee Advisory Council, and a member of the ABA's Affordable Care Act Task Force and the Coalition to Protect Parenthood After Cancer. In 2015, she was awarded the Legacy Advocate Award from a leading young adult cancer organization.

Ms. Bryant received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Law and Society, with an emphasis in criminal justice, and Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Juris Doctor from the George Washington University Law School. She is a member of both the California and Illinois State Bars.

Joanna Fawzy Morales, Esq. is a cancer rights attorney, author, speaker, and cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of Triage Cancer, a national, nonprofit organization that provides education and resources on cancer survivorship issues.

Ms. Morales has spent more than 24 years working on behalf of individuals with cancer, including five as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Loyola Law School, teaching a seminar in Cancer Rights Law, and eight at the John Wayne Cancer Institute's Psychosocial Care Program and Positive Appearance Center.

Ms. Morales has presented hundreds of educational seminars on employment, insurance, health care, financial, and other advocacy issues throughout the country for patients, survivors, caregivers, health care professionals, advocates, lawyers, employers, and the general public.

In addition, Ms. Morales has served on numerous cancer community committees and boards, including as Chair of the Board of Directors for the California Division of the American Cancer Society, the National Advisory Board of CancerForward, the Stupid Cancer Survivorship Advisory Council, ZERO Prostate Cancer's Medical Advisory Board, and the Executive Committee of the ABA's Breast Cancer Task Force.

She has been published in a variety of publications, such as Psycho-Oncology, Coping with Cancer, Women, and Ability Magazine. In 2009, she contributed to a book entitled Work and Cancer Survivors. In 2017, she wrote a chapter, “Preventing or Minimizing Financial Toxicity across the Continuum of Cancer Care,” for the Oncology Nursing Society's book Cancer Survivorship: Transdisciplinary, Patient- Centered Approaches to the Season of Survival.

Ms. Morales has received numerous awards and recognition for her service to the cancer community and her work in the area of legislative advocacy, such as the 2009 Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Public Policy Advocate of the Year and the 2015 Legacy Advocate Award from Stupid Cancer. In 2010, she was also recognized by The Los Angeles Daily Journal as one of the Top 20 Attorneys in California under the Age of 40.

Mrs. Morales received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with an emphasis in international relations from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. She is a member of the California State Bar.