Greg Merritt grew up in rural Loami, Illinois where he escaped poverty through education. He is the first in his extended family to receive a college degree. He received his PhD from Michigan State University in Higher Education Administration (focused on Teaching and Learning) and his Bachelor’s in Psychology from Bradley University. He spent more than 30 years working in university housing. After experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest and a heart attack in 2012, he decided to live his gifted second life in a new second career as the Founder of Patient is Partner, LLC, where he brings his experience as an educator, a community builder, and a “questionologist” to the healthcare world and hopes to find ways to create authentic partnerships between patients, their families, and care partners and healthcare clinicians and researchers. He has been a speaker at numerous meetings and conference proceedings including the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR), and State Society of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (CVPR) meetings in Michigan, North Carolina, and Ohio. He has also presented at numerous conferences representing the patient voice in research and practice in areas beyond cardiac rehabilitation.