08/20/2026
We join the cancer community in mourning the loss of Dr. Harold P. Freeman, the Founding Father of Patient Navigation.
In 1990, Dr. Freeman launched the world's first patient navigation program, which grew from something he was seeing firsthand at Harlem Hospital: too many people were facing barriers that made it harder to get the cancer care they needed. He understood that treating cancer wasn't enough if people couldn't access, understand or make their way through that care in the first place. What started there would go on to fundamentally change how people across the world are supported through cancer.
Ulman Foundation was founded just seven years later. As we approach our 30th year, that closeness in time feels especially meaningful. Patient navigation was still a new idea when Doug and Diana Ulman started our organization, but Dr. Freeman’s belief that people need support through everything that comes with a cancer diagnosis could not be more closely aligned with what they set out to do. Today, patient navigation is central to how we put that belief into practice and our mission into action to support adolescents and young adults facing cancer.
"For young adults, so much of what makes cancer difficult happens outside of the hospital. It can affect work, school, relationships, finances, fertility, family and plans for the future. Dr. Freeman helped change cancer care by recognizing that those things matter, too. That whole-person approach is fundamental to how Ulman's Patient Navigators support AYAs today." - Taylor Hosier, Director of Patient Navigation
We are grateful for his life, his vision and the extraordinary legacy he leaves behind. Learn more about Dr. Freeman’s life and work:
https://www.onclive.com/view/harold-p-freeman-md-pioneer-of-patient-navigation-and-cancer-disparities-research-dies-at-93
