Biden Cancer Initiative Names Cancer Support Community CEO Kim Thiboldeaux to Board of Directors

The Biden Cancer Initiative today announced Kim Thiboldeaux, CEO of the Cancer Support Community (CSC), along with other national leaders in the cancer field, has been selected to serve on the Initiative’s Board of Directors.

In his final State of the Union address in January 2016, President Barack Obama tasked Vice President Joe Biden with leading the Cancer Moonshot, a national effort to dramatically accelerate progress toward cures and achieve ten years of progress in five. Through the Biden Cancer Initiative, Vice President Biden will continue his work to reimagine how the government, academia, non-profits, and private sector can better organize their resources and systems to collaborate to take on cancer.

“The Biden Cancer Initiative is honored to have Kim join our board. As head of the largest professionally-led nonprofit network of cancer support organizations worldwide, Kim has a wealth of knowledge about the true experiences of cancer patients and their loved ones. Understanding the cancer experience from the patient’s perspective is essential to improving care—and caring—for cancer patients. Her personal experiences will help us achieve the Biden Cancer Initiative’s goals; they remind us to never lose sight that our work is in the service of all people who have been diagnosed with this life-threatening disease,” said Greg Simon, President of the Biden Cancer Initiative.

“It is an honor and a privilege to be asked to serve on the Board of the Biden Cancer Initiative,” commented Thiboldeaux. “No one knows better the importance of this work than Vice President Biden. His leadership and passion, combined with his personal experience as a caregiver and a father who lost his son to cancer, makes him the perfect person to continue this vital work to end cancer as we know it.”

Thiboldeaux joined The Wellness Community in 2000 as President and CEO. In 2009, The Wellness Community and Gilda’s Club joined forces to become the CSC, where Thiboldeaux has maintained her role as CEO. Thiboldeaux helped CSC become one of the largest providers of social and emotional support worldwide, advancing the idea that psychosocial care is as important as medical care in the face of a cancer diagnosis. CSC provides social and emotional support through a network of more than 50 local affiliates, more than 100 satellite locations and online. The organization also maintains a Research & Training Institute in Philadelphia and a Cancer Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

About Cancer Support Community

As the largest professionally led nonprofit network of cancer support worldwide, the Cancer Support Community (CSC), including its Gilda’s Club affiliates, is dedicated to ensuring that all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action, and sustained by community. CSC achieves its mission through three areas: direct service delivery, research, and advocacy. The organization includes an international network of Affiliates that offer the highest quality social and emotional support for people impacted by cancer, as well as a community of support available online and over the phone. The Research and Training Institute conducts cutting-edge psychosocial, behavioral, and survivorship research. CSC furthers its focus on patient advocacy through its Cancer Policy Institute, informing public policy in Washington, D.C. and across the nation. For more information, please call the toll-free Cancer Support Helpline at 888-793-9355, or visit www.CancerSupportCommunity.org. So that no one faces cancer alone®