Dr. Helene Brown has spent 42 years as a “political oncologist.” An advocate for cancer research and prevention, Helene was instrumental in spearheading the Surgeon General’s report on the link between smoking and cancer, as well as demonstrating the importance of Pap smears for women. Throughout her career, Helene has worked to raise millions for cancer research through her tireless efforts. She remains committed to educating the public on prevention and early detection techniques. Helene G. Brown has been in the forefront of the movement to control cancer since 1950. She has been credited with leading the nation’s battle against the fraud of cancer quakery from the late 1960s through the mid-90s and was responsible for implementing mass media approaches to the promotion of the pap smear in the 1950s and ’60s, which was a major contributing force in reducing mortality from cervical cancer. Her efforts in breast cancer control spearheaded the American Cancer Society (ACS) and National Cancer Institute Breast Cancer Detection and Demonstration Programs.
Brown has served as the president and chair of the board of the California Division of the ACS and has been the national vice president. Her leadership has provided the ACS with major education initiatives including the expansion of the Great American Smokeout from a small Minnesota community to its full potential first in California, and subsequently as the preeminent national effort each November.
She recently co-chaired the Futures Initiative of the ACS, which documents the methodology that will be used in reaching the organization’s goal of significantly reducing cancer mortality by 50 percent by the year 2013. The book Horizons 2013 details this extraordinary view of the future and is co-authored by Brown.
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