Eileen Z. Fuentes who has been in healthcare administration for nearly 20 years was diagnosed in 2008 with triple negative breast cancer. She was just 34 years old. While she came across skilled and compassionate healthcare workers, she was awakened to how deficient the medical establishment’s treatment model is but realized that she could be an active participant in her own health by incorporating the foods, customs and mindsets of her ancestors.

Eileen was awarded a scholarship by The Palette Fund, which allowed her to obtain her certification as an Integrative Cancer Care Educator at the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, where she now serves as faculty. She took part in The Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Program via a scholarship from the Livestrong Foundation and earned an advanced certification from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She also completed both the Summer Intensive Cooking Course and later the Food Therapy program at esteemed Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Health. She served as a Just Food CSA chef, where she taught community members how to prepare local, seasonal meals and is also certified as an African-heritage plant-based cooking instructor.

In 2010, Eileen founded and continues to lead the first-ever bilingual wellness program for cancer patients in collaboration with the Herbert Irving Cancer Center at Columbia University Medical Center where she works full-time assisting patients navigate their care. She is a sought after speaker who has presented at many venues including Memorial Sloan-Kettering, The Ralph Lauren Cancer Center, Latism 2013 and TEDMED Live. She has been quoted in the New York Times, appeared in the #JetBlueAMiCasa commercial, Latina magazine, and was selected as one of ‘Lincoln Motor Vehichle’s - Damas De Lincoln’ and Proud To Be Latina's prestigious 'Soy Poderosa' award for her community work.

For more information, visit her website at www.EileenZFuentes.com.