Livestrong

Intro

Doug Ulman took his aisle seat for flight 563, Heathrow to Austin, on November 22, 2010. He had just finished another fund raising event and was returning to the Livestrong headquarters in Austin, Texas for his annual Board meeting. Ulman had been working for the survivorship cause since 1997, first with his own foundation, the Ulman Foundation, before joining Livestrong in 2000. Ulman had been a student and soccer player at Brown University when he was diagnosed with cancer. After two remissions, he beat the disease. Having survived cancer, Ulman felt a need to dedicate his life to help other cancer survivors. Ulman left his post as director of the Ulman Foundation when, in 2000, he was invited to join the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) . Ulman recognized that he would have a greater impact with the international recognition of LAF, which was assisted in part from its celebrity spokesperson, Lance Armstrong. Ulman was 23 when he walked through the doors at LAF’s Austin headquarters; seven years later, at 29 years of age, Ulman was named President and CEO.

LAF was a charity whose goal was the promotion and study of issues related to cancer survivors. Lance Armstrong, the founder and spokesman of LAF, was cherished as an American hero for beating cancer and then winning several Tour de France championships. Having a survivor lead LAF made a statement about the ability of survivors to beat cancer and return to productive lives.

LAF (currently known as Livestrong) serves the 12 million cancer survivors that live in the USA . To service them, Livestrong provides funding and other forms of support to patient based research focused on survivorship and quality of life. An example of Livestrong’s programs includes, the Livestrong Survivorship Center of Excellence Network: A select group of full service cancer hospitals that are offered the opportunity to access grant funds to host survivorship centers that are networked together to generate the best...