NCCN Foundation Board Names New Leadership

Gena Cook, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Navigating Cancer, and Heather Kopecky, PhD, MBA, Senior Client Partner, Korn Ferry, have been named Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively, of the NCCN Foundation Board of Directors.

News provided by

National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Mar 24, 2017, 13:30 ET

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa., March 24, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The NCCN Foundation^® has named Gena Cook, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Navigating Cancer, as Chair of the NCCN Foundation Board of Directors. Ms. Cook, who was elected to the Board in 2010, succeeds the Honorable Ellen O. Tauscher, who served as chair of the NCCN Foundation Board of Directors since 2013.

"Since its inception, the NCCN Foundation has been providing one-of-a-kind guidelines to patients and their loved ones to partner in their care, as well as supporting young investors in research to improve patient care. Studies show that patients who are activated and engaged receive better outcomes at lower costs and at higher rates of satisfaction, and the work we are doing is directly impacting improved patient care. I've been proud to serve in supporting their efforts and am honored to take on additional responsibility to advance the Foundation's mission," said Ms. Cook.

Ms. Cook has more than 19 years of experience in health care, with 17 years in oncology. Through a variety of innovative and patient-centered endeavors, including creation of the first patient-centered platform for oncology, Ms. Cook and her team at Navigating Cancer support more than one million patients and thousands of cancer care providers nationwide. Prior to her time at Navigating Cancer, Ms. Cook held various leadership positions with McKesson Specialty Health and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

NCCN Foundation also named Heather Kopecky, PhD, MBA, as Vice-Chair of the NCCN Foundation Board of Directors, succeeding Michael Parisi, MBA, MA, who served in the position since the NCCN Foundation's inception in 2010.

"The NCCN and the NCCN Foundation are ground-breaking organizations. The hours spent by our Member Institutions to set standards for cancer care are given selflessly and by the best minds in oncology. It is our hope that patients and families, served by providers within medical centers around the world, recognize the NCCN Guidelines as the primary source for their care. Moreover, we hope that the patient resources provided by the NCCN Foundation will empower patients throughout the world," said Dr. Kopecky.

Dr. Kopecky is a Senior Client Partner at Korn Ferry International where she serves as an industry expert in executive search and coaching, as well as a consultant for prominent academic medical centers, multi-hospital nonprofit health systems, higher education, and professional health care associations. Previously, Dr. Kopecky enjoyed a 20-year career in the Texas Medical Center having had appointments at Baylor College of Medicine, The University of Texas, and Texas Women's University.

"It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as the NCCN Foundation Board of Directors Chairman for the past four years. The passion of the Board Members and staff have led to the tremendous growth of not only the NCCN Guidelines for Patients library, but also the Young Investigators Award Program," said Hon. Tauscher. "This success has allowed the NCCN Foundation to empower patients and caregivers with the educational support they need and to cultivate the next generation of innovators in cancer research. I am delighted that Gena Cook will now be leading the charge, and I know she will continue to move the mission forward."

Hon. Tauscher and Mr. Parisi will remain members of the NCCN Foundation Board of Directors.

NCCN Foundation was founded by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®) to empower people with cancer and advance oncology innovation. NCCN Foundation supports people with cancer and their caregivers at every step of their treatment journey by delivering unbiased expert guidance from the world's leading cancer experts through the library of NCCN Guidelines for Patients^® and other patient education resources. NCCN Foundation is also committed to advancing cancer treatment by funding the nation's promising young investigators at the forefront of cancer research, initiating momentum in their careers and furthering the betterment of patients through their groundbreaking innovations. For more information about NCCN Foundation, visit NCCNFoundation.org.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®), a not-for-profit alliance of 27 of the world's leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education, is dedicated to improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of cancer care so that patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. As the arbiter of high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers.

The NCCN Member Institutions are: Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Omaha, NE; Case Comprehensive Cancer Center/University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH; City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA; Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center | Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA; Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC; Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA; Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, WA; The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD; Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ, Jacksonville, FL, and Rochester, MN; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL; The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Columbus, OH; Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY; Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital/The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA; University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center, Birmingham, AL; UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA; UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA; University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO; University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, WI; Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN; and Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital, New Haven, CT.