Holly Van Hare

Panel Topic: Changing the Future: Empowered Patients Driving PCOS Advocacy, Research and Drug Development

Holly Van Hare is an educator, academic, and writer living in Brooklyn, New York. She works as the Director of The Listening Project, a research-based intervention in middle and high schools that aims to promote human connection and disrupt dehumanizing stereotypes through teaching a method called “transformative interviewing.” Holly is also a poet, and recently completed her master’s degree in Experimental Humanities and Social Engagement at New York University where she wrote and researched about body inclusivity in educational spaces. In 2020, Holly was diagnosed with PCOS after a decade-long struggle with unexplained symptoms. She has learned the importance of self-advocacy and education in obtaining health care, and has been looking for ways to advocate and educate others about the condition that has affected her life so greatly. Holly volunteered and spoke to congress members on PCOS Advocacy Day this year, and has continued her involvement with PCOS Challenge by serving on the Patient Experience Initiative Committee.