Vanessa Lathan (she/her/Ella) is the Patient Advocacy—Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Lead consultant for the Patient Inclusion Council (PIC). She is passionate about addressing racial health equity within health policy. A millennial African-American woman, Vanessa lives with multiple invisible disabilities and chronic health conditions, including Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease (UCTD), a rare autoimmune disorder, for the past nine years. Her health conditions, causing chronic widespread body pain and fatigue, have at times limited her ability to work, leading to her interest in disability justice and rights policy. Vanessa’s mission is to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities, especially Black women with invisible disabilities, who face compounded stigma and discrimination from systemic racism, sexism, and ableism.
In addition to her experience as a patient, Vanessa was a full-time caregiver to her grandmother, alongside her parents, for a year and a half until her passing in January 2023. Her grandmother lived with Arthritis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and heart disease and required full-time oxygen support.
Vanessa brings over 15 years of experience in public health, healthcare, and health policy. She has dedicated her career to advocating for racial health equity and addressing HIV and sexual and reproductive health. As a program manager across government and nonprofit sectors, Vanessa has worked with urban and rural communities in the Southern United States through a racial health equity and intersectional lens. Her work has consistently focused on community engagement, prioritizing the voices of people with lived experience as experts. Vanessa is a community member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Panel on HIV Medications for Adults and Adolescents. A proud double alum of Morgan State University, an HBCU, she is also a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated. Vanessa resides in Northern Virginia.