Brinker receives award for her work in fighting cancer

(original source PBDN)

Palm Beach resident Nancy Brinker was named Saturday as the May LUNGevity Hero in recognition of work in the fight against cancer, LUNGevity Foundation officials announced.

Foundation officials called Brinker “a true pioneer of the advocacy movement” who “gave a national voice to cancer patients, their friends and families, and set a model for success for today’s advocacy organizations around the world.”

Brinker is the founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, which was named after her late sister.

She was appointed to the National Cancer Advisory Board by President Ronald Reagan, appointed to the three-member President’s Cancer Panel by President George H.W. Bush, named Goodwill Ambassador for Cancer Control for the United Nations’ World Health Organization, and in 2009, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.