1987 – Dallas, Texas & Palm Beach, Florida
Nancy Brinker is the founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, established in 1982 to honor the memory of her sister, Susan. She created the Race for the Cure the following year in an effort to raise community awareness and funding for breast cancer education and scientific research. Nancy has advocated women’s health issues in congressional hearings, served under Presidents Reagan and Bush on the National Cancer Panel and under Vice President Quayle to monitor research, progress and development in the fight against breast cancer. She is the national spokesperson for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and sits on the board of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and U.S. Oncology, Inc. Nancy also serves on several nonprofit boards including the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention Advisory Board, the National Jewish Coalition Board of Governors, New York University’s Medical School Foundation and the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast Project. Over the past decade, Nancy Brinker has received more than forty honors, titles and awards, most recently the 1999 Humanitarian of the Year Award by the Republican Women’s Leadership Forum. A breast cancer survivor herself, Nancy is the author and co-author of “The Race is Run One Step At a Time” and Women’s Day’s “1000 Questions About Women’s Health”. She is an active public speaker on patients’ rights, medical advancements of breast cancer research and treatment and how to build a nonprofit with entrepreneurial spirit.
