Manta Cares: Making Cancer Care Personal With Samira Daswani and Waqas Haque, MD, MPH

Redesigning the Cancer Experience for Patients

Asked to describe the mission of Manta Cares, Ms. Daswani shares that the goal is to “redesign the cancer experience and make it ‘right side up’ for patients.” She argues that despite best intentions, “we don’t always do a good job in oncology of designing care for the patient.” Her core critique is not about clinical decision making, but about the design of the experience around those decisions. The current system assumes that patients can navigate a complex, fragmented landscape with limited tools. Manta Cares aims to provide structure, guidance, and emotional support that align more closely with the patient’s daily life.

The Hidden Burden: Quantifying the Cancer Journey

In recounting her own cancer experience, Ms. Daswani describes cancer care today as, “being on a treacherous journey, and you are lost. You don’t have a map or the right tools to know where you are and how to get out of that space.”

Her own numbers are sobering. Diagnosed with early-stage, triple-positive breast cancer at age 30, she reports that over roughly 18 months, she had 123 appointments, 14 specialists, seven biopsies, two insurance plans, and five emergency room visits. “The sheer numbers and frequency of touchpoints with the health system are staggeringly high,” she notes. Staggeringly, she is not an outlier: the average early-stage, hormone-positive breast cancer patient has 63 appointments in the first 12 months.

Dr. Haque acknowledges that oncologists review a patient’s treatment arc through the lens of the expert and what needs to be done—neoadjuvant therapy, surgeries, pathology—often forgetting to empathize with the overwhelming experience being thrust upon the patient. “It doesn’t really capture the actual time it takes, the number of infusions, or the number of clinic visits,” Dr. Haque reflects. That “hidden” burden may look like a tsunami in the eyes of a patient beginning their treatment journey.

From Personal Planner to Scalable Solution

Dr. Haque questions how a personal coping tool became a scalable product. Ms. Daswani shares that the Manta Cares planner originated when she designed a paper planner for herself out of frustration. Her care team encouraged her to print more; now, the planners “go like hotcakes.” Patients and families began insisting she charge for it.

Working full-time in diagnostics and living in Silicon Valley, she initially dismissed the idea of building a company around a paper product, especially in the age of technology. The turning point came when a senior oncology leader asked her a simple question: “How many people have you helped?” At that point, the planner had been utilized by nearly 1,000 patients nationally.

His reaction reframed her sense of impact. After comparing that number to what many nonprofits achieve over a decade, she decided to begin the transition from a paper planner to a digital platform.

Designing for Health Literacy

On the question of health literacy and engagement, Ms. Daswani emphasizes that Manta Cares is intentionally designed at a sixth-grade reading level. But she challenges a common clinical assumption that patients generally have low health literacy.

“What I’m seeing today,” she says, “is that, pretty consistently, patients are incredibly motivated.” If the patient is not digitally savvy, someone in their family or care circle usually is using ChatGPT and “Dr. Google” from day one. Even those who begin with low health literacy often become “super savvy” within weeks.

She suggests that oncologists should shift from discouraging online searching (“don’t Google it”) to curating it: “Of course I’m going to Google it. Just tell me where to go; give me the door to go down the rabbit hole in. That’s far more powerful than telling me not to go down the rabbit hole.”

What Oncologists Might Do Differently

When asked what oncologists should pay more attention to, Ms. Daswani offers two domains: the visit itself and the post-visit journey.

For the eight to 15 minutes of a typical follow-up appointment, she acknowledges that symptom triage and treatment planning are non-negotiable. She suggests adding “one or two questions around goals of care and personal milestones coming up,” which can be very powerful for patients without dramatically changing workflow.

Post-visit, she believes oncologists have a responsibility “to point me to the right trailhead.” That means guiding patients to trustworthy information and supportive tools, rather than expecting them not to seek information independently.

Seeing Tumor Boards Through a Patient’s Eyes

Reflecting on her podcast conversations with oncologists, one area that surprised Ms. Daswani was tumor boards. As a highly engaged patient, she once thought, “Why can’t I go to my own tumor board? I really want to be there to present it.” She was frustrated by being excluded. An oncologist guest reframed this for her, explaining that tumor boards are not reimbursed and thus function as a “cost center.” Efficient use of time becomes crucial.

She also learned how differently oncologists experience curative-intent versus metastatic care. For curative-intent cases, if a patient is not cured, “there’s almost an emotional backlash and a little bit of professional backlash.” This perspective helped her better understand clinician pressures and the structural constraints under which they work, even as she continues to advocate for more transparent, patient-accessible discussions.

Key Takeaways

• The burden is larger than the chart shows. Appointment counts, logistics, and emotional strain are central to the cancer experience but often invisible in clinical review.
• Patients are more motivated than you think. Many patients and families rapidly gain sophistication, using AI tools and online resources; channel this rather than resisting it.
• Small changes in the visit matter. Brief questions about goals of care and upcoming personal milestones can greatly enhance alignment and trust.
• Curate the rabbit hole. Instead of saying “don’t Google,” provide specific, credible resources and tools that match your treatment plan.
• Experience design is part of care. Tools like planners, trackers, and gratitude journaling can meaningfully support coping, autonomy, and adherence, even if they sit outside traditional medical workflows.

About the Speakers

Samira Daswani is a healthcare strategy and design leader who has launched and operated several healthcare startups. After undergoing treatment for breast cancer at age 30, she started Manta Cares, a global community of caregivers and survivors dedicated to transforming the cancer experience. At Manta Cares, she spearheads the development of tools and resources that enable cancer survivors to regain control. She also hots the podcast “Patient from Hell,” which is ranked by Spotify in the top 10% of globally shared podcasts.

Waqas Haque, MD, MPH, is a second-year Hematology/Oncology Fellow at the University of Chicago. He recently completed his Internal Medicine Residency at New York University (NYU) in a Clinical Investigator Track. Dr. Haque has balanced his patient care work with a variety of research projects. During his fellowship training at the University of Chicago, he plans to further his work in innovative clinical trial design, value-based care delivery to cancer patients, and clinical investigation.