Olga Lucia Torres, J.D., M.S.

Olga Lucia Torres has been sick her entire life, starting with a pediatric pituitary adenoma, later developing lupus and five other autoimmune diseases, and then experiencing a devastating brain injury that left her disabled. As a first-generation Latina, she was one of the eight founding attorneys of the Bronx Defenders and is now a lecturer in the Narrative Medicine program at Columbia University. Olga is also a patient advocate and enjoys her work as the inaugural Northeast Region Advocacy Chair for the Lupus Foundation of America. Additionally, she’s a member of the medical advisory board of Hear Your Song, a nonprofit that empowers children and teens with serious illnesses to make their voices heard through collaborative songwriting. 

As the chair of the Board of Trustees of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association (MMCA), Olga and MMCA seek to increase diversity across all media platforms. Olga has been published in the New York Times, Parents Magazine, PBS, and various other publications on disability rights, healthcare, and BIPOC issues. She attended Cornell University and Georgetown University Law Center on scholarship and returned to school as an adult at Columbia University. Olga’s book is currently being auctioned for sale.