Susannah Fox

I help people navigate health and technology.

Rebel Health

Rebel Health

My book, Rebel Health: A Field Guide to the Patient-Led Revolution in Medical Care, is now available in paperback.

I wrote this book for two groups of people:

1. Anyone who feels alone, forgotten, or lost in the shadows of suffering, whether they are navigating a new diagnosis or life with a chronic condition. Patients, survivors, and caregivers will learn new skills and how to deploy them for themselves and their loved ones.

2. Anyone working inside health care who is fed up with the status quo. If they are ready to create positive change – improve health outcomes, keep people safe, find effective treatments, or bring better products and services to the market – they need new allies and strategies. Rebels are standing by to help.

Health care needs to invite the rebels inside, to connect them with the resources they need to test and scale their ideas. Rebel Health is a how-to guide.

Resources:

  • Download an image of the book cover here.
  • Download a PDF of all the figures in the book here (particularly useful if you listen to the audiobook).

A favorite review:

What I absolutely love about this book, which keeps you engaged from the moment you open it, is that it’s addressing some pretty heavy and complex topics all while giving you real life stories from patients. And these stories? My friends, they will absolutely inspire you. 

I don’t want to ruin too much of this book, but do have to say that Susannah’s archetypes for these leaders is brilliant and will have immediate application in your work. In addition, her figures, which are present throughout the book, are, not surprising, worthy of immediate use on your favorite slide deck. Multiple times I found myself saying, “Ah, I get it now,” and, “I can’t wait to use this one!”

– Ben Miller, Mental

Media coverage:

If you are a podcast person, Melanie Marcus drew out some new stories and insights in her interview for the Surecripts podcast, There’s a Better Way. Here’s the episode: The Rebel’s Guide to Navigating American Healthcare.

I also loved how Jordan Grumet wove in his experiences as a clinician and financial advisor when interviewing me for Earn & Invest (episode 507). Here’s a list of more podcasts and media coverage.

Here’s where I’ll be talking about Rebel Health in the coming months:

  • July 2-3 in Palo Alto, CA: I will lead a workshop and deliver remarks at Stanford Medicine’s Clinical Science, Technology, and Medicine Summer Internship program. Rebel Health was chosen as the capstone reading for this year’s participants.
  • July 24-27 in Salt Lake City, UT: I will speak at the Moebius Syndrome Foundation 2025 Conference.
  • September 26 in Washington, DC: I will deliver a keynote at the annual conference of the Academy of Doctors of Audiology.

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Praise for Rebel Health:

Researcher Susannah Fox believes that no one with a new diagnosis should ever have to feel alone. When patients connect with peer support, they step into a community where they may ultimately find a starring role in pioneering solutions. Fox spent two decades learning from radical patient-led communities that leveraged the power of the internet to make strides against life-altering health issues, including cancer, diabetes, and most recently long Covid. She took that idea to the Obama administration, where she served as chief technology officer at the Department of Health and Human Services. In her new book Rebel Health: A Field Guide to the Patient-Led Revolution in Medical Care, she argues that every government agency and business that touches on health care should have an intake valve for insights generated by patients, survivors and caregivers. Everyone can benefit from this underground revolution.

– Psychology Today

Rebel Health taps into the knowledge that Fox has accumulated over decades of studying online patient communities. Her resumé reads as an eclectic combination of high-end roles, from former Chief Technology Officer for the Department of Health and Human Services under the Obama Administration, to an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and directing the health portfolio at the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project. But the throughline has always been the people leveraging technology to get some answers.

– STAT News

In the age of rapid health advancements, Fox reminds us that no amount of tech can replace the support of others who have gone or are going through similar struggles—the relieving elixir of what she calls ‘just-in-time someone-like-me.’

– Esther Perel, psychotherapist; author of Mating in Captivity; host of Where Should We Begin

Susannah Fox makes visible the experience and wisdom of remarkable patients who are creating solutions and setting new standards for what is possible in health care, providing inspiration for all seeking better health.

– Harlan M. Krumholz, Harold H. Hines Jr. Professor of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine

Through Susannah Fox’s unique framework of four patient archetypes, she shines a light on the ingenuity that arises when people collectively leverage their lived experiences to change the status quo, giving us hope for the continuation of a patient-led revolution.

– Gina Assaf and Lisa McCorkell, cofounders of Patient-Led Research Collaborative

Susannah Fox teaches us how the best path to improving care is to rebel! Rebel Health is a crucial look at how patient communities can make the difference when the medical field ignores their concerns.

– Andy Slavitt, General Partner, Town Hall Ventures; author of Preventable

Rebel Health is a wonderful testament and practical guide to the way people can come together and tap into their collective resilience to address health challenges. Susannah Fox writes with great wisdom and depth about how the different actors (Seekers, Networkers, Solvers, and Champions) work together to promote innovative patient-led solutions to previously unrecognized health needs.

– Jack Saul, author of Collective Trauma, Collective Healing

Navigating the health care system can feel overwhelming for anyone recently diagnosed with a disease and for health care professionals trying to give excellent care to their patients. A revolution is brewing, and no one is more qualified than Susannah Fox to lead it. Rebel Health is an inspiring and empowering field guide for transforming American medicine into true health care. Highly recommended!

– Dean Ornish, New York Times bestselling author of UnDo It!; Founder and President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute; Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCSF

Image by Clara Ganz