Ellen Sigal, Ph.D.

Dr. Sigal is the founder and Chairperson of Friends of Cancer Research ("Friends"), a Washington, DC based non-profit organization. Friends is dedicated to accelerating the nation’s progress toward prevention and treatment of cancer by mobilizing public support for cancer research funding and providing education on key public policy issues. Dr. Sigal serves on the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Advisors, the National Institutes of Health prestigious Director’s Council of Public Representatives, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (chairing its Public-Private Initiatives Committee), the American Society of Clinical Oncology Foundation Board, and the American Association for Cancer Research Foundation Board. Dr. Sigal holds leadership positions with a broad range of cancer advocacy and public policy organizations, and leadership positions with academic health centers including Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Johns Hopkins Cancer Center Advisory Council and the Howard University Cancer Center Board of Visitors. Dr. Sigal also serves on the C-Change (formerly the National Dialogue on Cancer Research) Research Committee. Most recently she was named to the Entertainment Industry Foundation Oversight Committee for the Biomarker Discovery Project.

During her more than twenty year commitment to advancing the war on cancer, Dr. Sigal has served in a number of critical public positions. She was a Presidential Appointee to the National Cancer Advisory Board from 1992–1998, where she chaired the Budget and Planning Committee that oversees the federal cancer budget. In 1998, Dr. Sigal was named Vice Chairman of the Board of The March, a national grassroots advocacy group that brought thousands of volunteers to Washington to liaise with Congress and to set a new advocacy agenda for cancer research and treatment. Dr. Sigal also has been instrumental in harnessing the energies of Hollywood on behalf of cancer research, serving as President of The Creative Community Task Force for Cancer Research.

For her efforts on behalf of cancer research advocacy, Dr. Sigal was awarded the Association of American Cancer Institutes’ 2004 Public Service Award and was honored by Washingtonian magazine as a 2004 Washingtonian of the Year. In 2004 she was also honored by Research!America, the George Washington University Cancer Institute, and the International Spirit of Life Foundation. Dr. Sigal was awarded the 2002 American Society of Clinical Oncology Special Recognition Award, the 1999 Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center National Leadership Award, and the 1998 American Association for Cancer Research National Leadership Award.

Dr. Sigal received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University in Russian History.