Kristin Flanary, MA, was formally trained in cognitive neuroscience and social psychology before applying those skills to a career in marketing and communications. She and her ophthalmologist husband, Dr. Will Flanary, met at Texas Tech University before earning advanced degrees at Dartmouth College. Together, they co-founded Glaucomflecken, LLC, in 2022.
Kristin has experienced an intimate and varied view of the healthcare system. She has been a patient, “married to medicine” through the entire medical training journey and beyond, a lay responder and CPR provider to her husband, and a caregiver and “co-survivor” of his two cancer occurrences and a sudden cardiac arrest.
In May 2020, Kristin woke up in the middle of the night to her otherwise healthy 34-year-old husband having a sudden cardiac arrest in his sleep. Their 8- and 5-year-old daughters were asleep in the next room while Kristin worked with a 911 dispatcher to guide paramedics to their home. While help was en route, she gave cardinal directions to the primary bedroom, shared the garage code, and asked paramedics to shut the children’s bedroom door while simultaneously performing 10 minutes of CPR. Despite out-of-hospital cardiac arrests having a mere 10% survival rate, these efforts and the help of the Intensive Care Unit kept Will’s brain and body intact. He was conscious, healthy, and back to his usual self the next day — a nearly unheard-of feat.
Kristin is an active online contributor to the healthcare space and beyond, where she and her husband are best known for their social media alter egos, Dr. and Lady Glaucomflecken. Through her podcast, social media presence, impactful writing, and unforgettable keynote speaking, Kristin teaches healthcare workers about the patient, family, and co-survivor experience.
As Co-Founder and Marketing Director of Glaucomflecken LLC, her work advocates for caregivers and co-survivors, CPR and AED use, physician families, adolescents and young adults affected by cancer, and sudden cardiac arrest survivorship.
She also co-hosts the medical comedy podcast, “Knock Knock, Hi! With the Glaucomfleckens” and guest-stars in Dr. Glaucomflecken videos as the OBGYN at Glaucomflecken General Hospital. Kristin serves as Co-Patient Editor for the Journal of Cardiac Failure and writes about the co-survivor experience for medical journals. Kristin was awarded the 2021 Citizen CPR Foundation’s 40 Under 40 award and the American Heart Association’s Resuscitation Champion Award in 2022.