If you have been diagnosed with cancer, you may feel like you have entered a new world, complete with its own language. CancerChoices co-founder Michael Lerner believes that “the experience of a person who is given a cancer diagnosis is similar to that of a soldier who is given orders by his officers to parachute into a jungle war zone without a map, a compass, or training of any kind.”1Lerner M. Choices In Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Approaches to Cancer. MIT Press. 1994. p xix. Advocates and navigators can help you get familiar with the new territory you are in and decide on the steps you might take, and they can continue to support you even well after a diagnosis.
Below we describe the different kinds of advocates and navigators, and how you can find one (or more) to work with.
Navigators
Oncology navigators are part of conventional medical care, and they can help coordinate your care and help you deal with barriers to receiving and completing your care. Navigators include oncology nurses, oncology social workers, and patient (peer) navigators, and they are available at cancer centers and most hospitals that provide cancer care. Navigators can be employed by community groups, hospitals, or insurance companies. They may also be volunteers, or independent consultants hired by people with cancer or their families.2Patient Navigators Can Help When Life Disrupts Cancer Care. American Cancer Society. April 19, 2021. Viewed January 28, 2022. Someone providing navigation services may or may not formally be called a navigator, though the title of navigator is becoming more common in cancer centers.
Navigators help people with cancer and their loved ones address barriers including:
- lack of clarity about options in treatment and/or symptom management
- lack of transportation or social support
- confusion or stress about insurance/financial issues or workplace issues
- lack of support in planning and making appointments or coordinating child care
- problems communicating with healthcare professionals
- scheduling appointments across different providers
Navigators can provide resources to help you address your informational, practical, physical, and social/emotional needs. Services can start before cancer diagnosis and continue through all phases of cancer.
Research shows that oncology navigation provides these benefits to patients:3Tan CH, Wilson S, McConigley R. Experiences of cancer patients in a patient navigation program: a qualitative systematic review. JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports. 2015 Mar 12;13(2):136-68; Tho PC, Ang E. The effectiveness of patient navigation programs for adult cancer patients undergoing treatment: a systematic review. JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports. 2016 Feb;14(2):295-321; Wagner EH, Ludman EJ et al. Nurse navigators in early cancer care: a randomized, controlled trial. Journal of Clinical Oncology.] 2014 Jan 1;32(1):12-8.
- Practical assistance to ensure continuity of care
- Increased accessibility to care
- Emotional support
- Increased knowledge and empowerment regarding treatment goals and plans
- Increased patient satisfaction
Integrative oncology navigation
Integrative oncology navigation is also available. Integrative navigators focus on assuring that you have access to both conventional treatment and complementary therapies that help you address your physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs.
Trained integrative navigators are well versed in complementary therapies and approaches most commonly used in cancer care and skilled in assisting you research, responsibly select, and use these therapies. They emphasize the importance of communication and coordination with your medical team and serve as educators, advocates, and compassionate guides.
Other professionals such as integrative health coaches, cancer guides, and patient advocates perform similar roles as integrative navigators but may not have the specific focus or specialized training that integrative navigators have.
Navigator certification and licensing
The Academy of Oncology Nurse and Patient Navigators (AONN) offers certification in traditional oncology navigation. Certification indicates that a nurse or patient navigator has the basic knowledge to carry out their roles and responsibilities as navigators.
No state board licensing of navigators is yet available, and neither licensure nor certification is required for practicing navigation. Nurse and social worker navigators are typically licensed in their professions. The field of integrative oncology navigation is relatively new, and no certification or licensure is available for integrative oncology navigators.
Find a navigator
You can find a navigator by asking your doctor or cancer center, and/or searching the options below. When searching for a navigator, we encourage you to ask about costs for services and whether your insurance will cover charges.
Oncology navigators
Integrative oncology navigators
Cancer coaches
Patient advocates
Patient advocates provide several types of support:4With gratitude to Betsy Glosik, chair of the patient advocates special interest group of the Society for Integrative Oncology
- Patient navigation throughout treatment and beyond within the conventional medical system, as well as outside the system for integrative and complementary care
- Financial and legal navigation, particularly for end-of-life matters for people with cancer
- Educating people with cancer and caregivers on research and decision making. Research can involve everything from gaining an understanding about treatments and side effects to learning about other possible treatment options, clinical trials, and therapies that may improve quality of life and outcomes.
A patient advocate may also intervene if requested to represent people who think their healthcare rights are being violated. Their advocacy may be specific to a disease and/or function, such as palliative care with cancer or insurance/financial issues related to cancer.
Oncology patient advocates are often cancer survivors. They are not necessarily trained in a healthcare profession, although they may have professional training as a health advocate. Advocates who are cancer survivors may bring a unique and valuable perspective and understanding to their services.
Integrative oncologist and CancerChoices advisor Dwight McKee, MD, speaks on “the tremendous value of patient advocates that have been down the cancer road.”
Play videoCertification of general patient advocates is available; see the Patient Advocate Certification Board. No state board licensing of advocates is available, and neither federal or state governments require licensure or certification to practice advocacy.
Find a patient advocate
Medical or clinical advocates
Medical advocates, sometimes called clinical advocates, are trained healthcare professionals, mainly physicians, who specialize in working with patients and families who are facing complex medical situations.
A medical advocate works as a personal consultant, researcher, and advocate to help you get the information and authority you need to be in charge of your health care. They navigate and guide you in implementing individualized medical plans and strategies, while working collaboratively with your medical team.
Medical advocates do not provide care, but instead work to “leave no stone unturned” in learning about and pursuing all possible diagnostic and treatment options. These advocates typically work by phone, consulting with patients from across the country and around the world. Medical advocacy is not a medical specialty, and no certification or licensing exists for medical advocates.
What is Medical Advocacy?
Integrative navigator and CancerChoices advisor Mark Renneker, MD, describes the services a medical advocate provides for a patient.
Play videoHelpful links
Become a navigator
Keep reading about how to integrate your choices
Reviewers of selected sections
Dr. Rao is a medical oncologist, the medical director of integrative oncology at University Hospitals Connor Whole Health, and director of medical oncology for genitourinary cancer at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center. He is the 2022-23 president-elect of the Society for Integrative Oncology. Dr. Rao is also the host of the podcast Integrative Oncology Talk, with support from the Society for Integrative Oncology.
After graduating from the University of Michigan Medical School and completing a residency program in internal medicine at the University of California San Diego, Dr. Rao completed a fellowship in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona and later obtained a board certification in integrative medicine through the American Board of Integrative Medicine. Dr. Rao has trained in Ayurveda and Healing Touch. He also attended the Leadership Program in Integrative Medicine at Duke University. His research interests include genitourinary oncology, sleep, and integrative medicine implementation and program development.
Erin Price, MSW, LICSW, OSW-C, was driven to help others facing cancer shortly after her own breast cancer diagnosis in 2010 at the age of 27. Erin currently serves as the Young Adult and Psychosocial Support Programs Director at Smith Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, DC, where she manages various programs and serves as a therapist and integrative patient navigator. Her areas of expertise include cancer survivorship, adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer, and integrative cancer care. She is also a graduate of the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s Project LEAD scientific research advocacy training, an experienced grant reviewer for the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program, and a member of the Georgetown Breast Cancer Advocates. She has presented at several national conferences and been published in peer-reviewed journals. In 2021, she was recognized as a 40 Under 40 Rising Star and Emerging Leader in Cancer.
Christine has a dynamic background in the life sciences, public health, and program operations. Her career began at the lab bench with a Gates Foundation-funded HIV Vaccine research group, which led her to graduate studies in public health epidemiology at UC Berkeley. Her research experience spans clinical epidemiology research to evaluating the impacts of community nutrition programs in Los Angeles, the Central Valley, and Oakland. Most recently she has worked in executive operations for a seed-stage venture capital firm based in San Francisco. Personally, Christine is passionate about holistic health and wellness. She is a clinical herbalist and Reiki master, and she has been practicing yoga for 15+ years. She brings a breadth of experiences to her work leading the CancerChoices program.
Last update: January 8, 2026
Last full resource review: August 2021
CancerChoices provides information about integrative in cancer care, a patient-centered approach combining the best of conventional care, self care and evidence-informed complementary care in an integrated plan cancer care. We review complementaryin cancer care, complementary care involves the use of therapies intended to enhance or add to standard conventional treatments; examples include supplements, mind-body approaches such as yoga or psychosocial therapy, and acupuncture therapies and self-care lifestyle actions and behaviors that may impact cancer outcomes; examples include eating health-promoting foods, limiting alcohol, increasing physical activity, and managing stress practices to help patients and professionals explore and integrate the best combination of conventionalthe cancer care offered by conventionally trained physicians and most hospitals; examples are chemotherapy, surgery, and radiotherapy and complementary therapies and practices for each person.
Our staff have no financial conflicts of interest to declare. We receive no funds from any manufacturers or retailers gaining financial profit by promoting or discouraging therapies mentioned on this site.
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