Kristin Flanary, known internationally as her social media alter ego, Lady Glaucomflecken, is on a mission to make health care a little more human. Through storytelling, her keynote address on September 29 at the Women’s Health and Cancer Conference will highlight her perspective as a caregiver and “co-survivor” of her husband’s two cancer occurrences and sudden cardiac arrest.
Comedian Kristin Flanary (a.k.a. Lady Glaucomflecken)
The UVM Cancer Center is pleased to announce that advocate and comedian Kristin Flanary will be headlining the 26th annual Women’s Health and Cancer Conference on Friday, September 29th in Burlington, VT.
Kristin Flanary, known internationally as her social media alter ego, Lady Glaucomflecken, is on a mission to make health care a little more human. Through storytelling, her keynote address on September 29 at the Women’s Health and Cancer Conference will highlight her perspective as a caregiver and “co-survivor” of her husband’s two cancer occurrences and sudden cardiac arrest.
Kristin is an advocate for caregivers and co-survivors of medical trauma and critical illness, physician families, and adolescents and young adults affected by cancer. Because of her lived personal and family experience, she embodies this year’s conference theme, “the changing landscape of cancer.”
Kristin is “married to medicine.” Her husband, Dr. Will Flanary, is an ophthalmologist and internet comedian who performs under the stage name Dr. Glaucomflecken. They stared dating as undergraduates and had two children during Will's medical school and residency years. By the time they were 35, Will had suffered two cancer occurrences.
Kristin took on the unexpected role of caregiver and “co-survivor” of these traumatic experiences. In May 2020, she woke up in the middle of the night to Will having a sudden cardiac arrest while their 8- and 5-year-old daughters were asleep in the next room. She called 911 and performed 10 minutes of CPR before help arrived.
You’ll find Kristin guest starring in Dr. Glaucomflecken’s videos and as the co-host of the medically-themed comedy podcast “Knock Knock, Hi.” She earned a bachelor’s degree at Texas Tech University and a master’s degree at Dartmouth College. She applies her formal training in cognitive neuroscience and social psychology to her communications and in 2022 co-founded Glaucomflecken LLC, an advocacy organization.
Her perspective on the health care system is unique: She brings the “behind-the-scenes” knowledge of what it takes to be a physician; She has been a patient and a family member of a patient and is a co-survivor of a life-altering cancer diagnosis; She has seen compassion and humanity, and the lack thereof. Through her advocacy work she teaches healthcare workers about the patient and family experience with the hope of humanizing the health care system.
The Women’s Health and Cancer Conference is a free, educational event aimed at empowering and supporting individuals and communities with knowledge about cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and survivorship. This year, the conference will explore the evolution of the patient’s experience, clinical treatments, and realities of living with cancer across topics such as caregiving, nutrition, sexual health, symptom management, new therapies, social media, and trauma-informed cancer care.
The conference takes place September 29, 2023 at the Dudley H. Davis Center at the University of Vermont or virtually on Zoom. Learn more and register for the conference at: go.uvm.edu/whcc23
The Women’s Health and Cancer Conference is supported by the Patti O’Brien, M.D., Women’s Health and Cancer Fund.