Bio

Amelia Coffaro (she/her), C-IAYT, is a Certified Yoga Therapist working in oncology support, sharing adaptive yoga and mindful self-compassion with people in classrooms and infusion centers. In 2014 she created the first Yoga Therapy program for cancer patients at Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital.

After experiencing a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer at age 27, Amelia dedicated her work to meeting the unique needs of people with cancer as ways to manage, prevent and heal from disease or illness. She is passionate about creating inclusive and holistic healing communities for young adults with cancer, and educating young people on the benefits and role of mind body medicine during cancer treatment and into survivorship.

Amelia is a member of the Yoga Committee and Patient Advocate Committee, and recently launched the Adolescent Young Adult SIG for the Society for Integrative Oncology, where she works in collaboration with integrative health practitioners, clinicians and researchers to advance evidence-based healing modalities as part of comprehensive, integrative oncology care for young people across the cancer care continuum. Amelia previously served as the Project Manager and collaborator for the Bounce Back Study Stakeholder Group, a stress management program for adolescents and young adults (AYA) cancer survivors led by Dr. Giselle Perez-Lougee, Ph.D. at Harvard University. For nearly 10 years, Amelia was a board member at CORE/El Centro where she focused on developing community partnerships that provided under served people with access to integrative health services. 

Amelia has had the honor to offer the keynote at several health and wellness related events where she has shared her personal story and experience with advanced Inflammatory Breast Cancer and Li Fraumeni Syndrome. In 2013, TIME named her personal photo series, walk through cancer as one of the top photojournalism projects on the web. Her work has also been featured in Elle, NPR and CBS News This Morning, among others.

As an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, she founded Well Entrepreneur — the center’s first well-being initiative.

Currently, Amelia works as an oncology patient navigator. She is also an Associate Investigator at the National Cancer Institute where she explores the role of mindful self-compassion to support the mental health of Adolescent Young Adults (AYAs) with Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS).