Los Angeles - April 27, 2009 - Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), the charitable initiative created to fund groundbreaking research aimed at getting new treatments to patients in an accelerated timeframe, today announced the appointment of Diane L. Balma as its first Executive Director.
Formerly Vice President of Strategic Relations at Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Balma is herself a cancer survivor and will serve and collaborate with the nine-member SU2C Executive Leadership Committee (ELC). “We are proud to welcome Diane Balma, a highly respected executive with the skill and passion to refine Stand Up To Cancer’s strategy and help take this still relatively young initiative to the next level,” said Lisa Paulsen, a member of the ELC and President & Chief Executive Officer of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF). “Diane has a terrific blend of experience in fundraising, public awareness, advocacy, and policy as it relates to cancer research. The breadth of her background is a wonderful fit with our core mission: raising funds for teams of investigators who will work together to translate science from basic research in the lab to new treatments in the clinic in record time.”
Stand Up To Cancer’s distinctive research funding model is designed to eliminate barriers that have traditionally inhibited creativity and collaboration by enabling scientists from different institutions across the country and internationally to work together on Dream Teams. Since its inception in May, 2008, SU2C has raised over $100 million. A prestigious Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) has been working with the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) to select the first round of Dream Team grants, which will be announced this Spring. SU2C monies will also be used for some high-risk, high-impact individual cancer research projects, which are often not supported by conventional funding sources.
Widely known for an historic September 5, 2008 telecast that aired simultaneously on ABC, CBS and NBC, SU2C was established by a group of media, entertainment and philanthropic leaders whose lives have all been affected by cancer, and is administered by the Entertainment Industry Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit group that serves as a collective charitable organization for the film and television businesses.
“SU2C is closely connected to the entertainment community, and that provides a unique platform to make people all over the country aware that they can make a difference in this fight,” noted Laura Ziskin, an award-winning film and television producer, who executive produced last year’s SU2C fundraising special, and an ELC member. “We want to draw on that asset wisely to help achieve a goal shared with so many cancer advocacy groups – expediting the process through which new and better treatments get from the ‘bench to the bedside’. Diane’s long-standing relationships with so many organizations in this field will help ensure that SU2C’s unique resources are utilized effectively to benefit those struggling with cancer, as well as those who will face a diagnosis in the future,” said Ziskin.
“I am honored to become a member of the Stand Up To Cancer team. Increasing the amount of translational research that gets done in this country is, in my view, central to winning the war on cancer. In that respect, I think the SU2C mandate is truly visionary. I am excited about working side-by-side with the ELC; SU2C’s partner, the American Association for Cancer Research; the superb leaders of SU2C’s Scientific Advisory Committee; the 25 member organizations that are part of SU2C’s Advocate Advisory Council, and the larger cancer advocacy community,” said Diane Balma.
