The Good Fight

An executive dedicates her career to finding a cure—and fulfills a commitment she made after losing a friend

By Devon Madison

It all started with a letter that Susan G. Braun, BA English ’77 and BA Sociology ’77, received from a close college friend. Her 36-year-old friend had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Braun called her immediately, and during their conversation, her friend said that she would triumph over the illness.

Now, as the new executive director of the ASCO Foundation, the organization that works with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) to fund cancer research, patient care, and education programs, Braun looks back and realizes how little she knew about breast cancer.

“I really believed that she was going to beat it,” says Braun, “because as well educated as I was, I truly did not believe that young women died of breast cancer.” Tragically, Braun’s friend succumbed to the illness not too long after. “At her funeral, I said to myself, ‘This is wrong. This is just wrong. What can I do?’ So I set out to do something.”

And she did. Braun, who was working in the oncology and immunology division at Bristol-Myers Squibb at the time of her friend’s death, began talking to her colleagues at work about the issue. Two of them had lost their mothers to breast cancer.

“I asked them, ‘We know a lot about therapies, we know a lot about physicians, but what do we know about patients?’” says Braun. She and her colleagues began to explore how their company could help patient advocacy groups do their important work—something that no pharmaceutical companies were doing at the time. Through this work, Braun came to know people at the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

“I found out that I loved working in the world of patient advocacy and felt that I could make a difference,” she says.

Braun began working at the Komen Foundation as its president and chief executive in 1996. During her nine-year stay at the foundation, the staff grew from 20 to 200 and the foundation’s gross revenue grew from $21 million to more than $200 million. Braun describes her experience at Komen as inspirational, but she felt it was time for a change.

“I believe that leaders need to understand when it’s a good time for them to turn over the reins to someone who can take the organization to the next step,” Braun says. “I knew that Komen would continue to grow and flourish without me. I was hoping to find a place where I could work in yet other ways to help with research and education, and basically put an end to cancer.”

At the ASCO Foundation, that is exactly what she’s doing. Braun and her colleagues are funding young medical investigators who are beginning their careers. These grants not only help these young scientists with their research, but the funding also encourages them to stay committed to the field of oncology. Looking at the statistics, it becomes evident as to why this is so important. After heart disease, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. In 2007, more than 1.4 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed and nearly 560,000 cancer deaths will occur in the United States alone. That means that 1,500 people die of cancer every day in our country.

Supporting research is only half the equation at ASCO. The foundation is also committed to educating people with all forms of the disease. ASCO produces the most definitive web site for people with questions about cancer: plwc.org (people living with cancer). It is through its initiatives that ASCO helps patients and their families make informed health care decisions.

With a genuine compassion for humanity and solid optimism for finding a cure, Braun gracefully rises to the challenge of tackling this disease head on.

“There is such hope on the scientific horizon, and what motivates me every day is that we can bring that hope to people,” Braun says. “We can make a real difference in the lives and well-being of people with cancer and their families and truly change the course of this complex array of diseases.”