Dr. Ellen Sigal named to Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute Board of Governors
 
Chair of Friends of Cancer Research Appointed as One of 19 Member Board for Comparative Effectiveness Research
 
Washington, D.C.- Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) would like to congratulate our Chair and Founder Dr. Ellen Sigal for her nomination to the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors. The appointments were announced today by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Dr. Sigal will fill one of three positions that has been designated for a patient or consumer advocate.
 
“Ellen has worked tirelessly to advance support of cancer research,” said Dr. Otis Brawley, Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society. “She is truly a leader amongst the cancer research and patient communities.”
 
The forming of the PCORI board is the first major step for the institute, which was set up as part of the Affordable Care Act passed into law in March of this year.
 
For over 20 years Dr. Sigal has been an advocate for finding better treatments and therapies for patients through advancing science and research. She has seen first-hand how horrible diseases like cancer are through family and friends. Ellen has worked intimately with hundreds of patients and their families to help navigate the difficult and turbulent path from cancer diagnosis to treatment, and she, like so many Americans, has many times been a patient herself, having dealt with serious illness and complicated medical conditions.
 
“Since the founding of Friends of Cancer Research she has worked vigorously to understand the fundamental drivers of how progress can be made to benefit patients and improve outcomes in cancer,” said Dr. Elias Zerhouni, Director of the National Institutes of Health from 2002-2008. “It would be hard, in my opinion, to find a more experienced and thoughtful patient advocate than Ellen Sigal.”
 
Professionally Dr. Sigal has lead Friends of Cancer Research for 15 years. While leading Friends she has worked on some of the most important issues to advance biomedical research, and, for the past 3 years has examined how Comparative Effectiveness Research can be conducted in a way that truly benefits patients and their families.  Friends has held numerous forums on the topic and has published a white paper co-authored by 25 leading advocates, researchers and health practioners using cancer as a case study for how this can be done effectively and efficiently.
 
 “Friends has made incredible progress on behalf of millions of patients battling cancer,” said Dr. Ed Benz, Director, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. “Their work brings together key stakeholders and experts to address the barriers to scientific innovation that affect all sectors of biomedical research, not just cancer.”
 
##
 
Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) is a cancer research think tank based in the Washington, D.C. area. Working with the entire cancer research and advocacy community, Friends pioneers innovative public-private partnerships, organizes critical policy forums, educates the public, and brings together key stakeholders to overcome the barriers standing between patients and the most promising cancer treatments. WWW.FOCR.ORG