Co-Founder,
Philippine Alliance of Patients' Organisations

Maria Fatima Garcia-Lorenzo is a Certified Child Life Specialist and is a member of the Association of Child Life Specialists, USA. She completed her Child Life internship at the University of California San Francisco Hospital. Ms. Fatima Garcia-Lorenzo finished her graduate studies on Child and Family Psychology at the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City. She is a Philippine-licensed Child and Family Psychologist. Fatima advocates for patient’s rights and is engaged in health policy development. Ms. Garcia-Lorenzo is the co-founder of the Philippine Alliance of Patients’ Organization (PAPO), an umbrella organization of at least 42 disease-specific patient groups, representing about a million patients nationwide. Fatima is a board member of the Hemophilia Philippines Foundation. She is also a member of the multisectoral governance council of Philippine Children’s Medical Center and National Children’s Hospital. Ms. Lorenzo is likewise a member of the Department of Health’s Technical Working Group on Patient Safety and Palliative and Hospice Care. The Union of International Cancer Control (UICC) chose Fatimaas one of the patient leaders to represent the Philippines in their Asia-Pacific (APAC) Patient Group Mentoring Program. She was also chosen by the DUKE-National University of Singapore Centre of Regulatory Excellence to represent the Philippines in the Coalition to Accelerate Patient Engagement (CAPE). Fatima holds the distinction of being the first Filipino Ashoka Fellow. Ashoka is a global organization based in the USA, which recognizes outstanding achievements of social innovators. Fatima was chosen because she co-founded Kythe Foundation, an organization which addresses the needs of more than 17,000 children with cancer and other chronic illness a year, in ten partner hospitals nationwide. Ms. Garcia-Lorenzo has been caring for children with cancer and other chronic-illness for over 30 years.