In this role, Brinker advises, assists and supports the president of the United States, the vice president and the secretary of state on official matters of diplomatic procedure. She accompanies the president on official visits abroad and serves as the president's personal representative and liaison to the foreign Ambassadors in Washington. Under her direction, the Office of the Chief of Protocol is responsible for activities including the planning, hosting and officiating of ceremonial events for visiting chiefs of state and heads of government, as well as coordinating logistics for the visits. The office also manages Blair House, the president's guesthouse. On April 15, 2008, Ambassador Brinker was the first American to greet Pope Benedict XVI upon his arrival at Andrews Air Force Base as part of her official duties.

Brinker is a breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed in 1984. She has one son, Eric. It was during her marriage, to restaurant impresario and Brinker International founder Norman E. Brinker, that she began her efforts in earnest to build breast cancer awareness and financial support. Norman Brinker remains linked to Komen for the Cure, having served on its board since its founding in 1982.

Ambassador to Hungary

Other government service

• In 2000, she was appointed to the National Steering Committee for the National Dialogue on Cancer
• Vice President Dan Quayle invited her to chair a subcommittee monitoring research, progress and development in the fight against breast cancer
• In 1990, President George H. W. Bush appointed her to chair the President's Cancer Panel and to monitor the progress of the National Cancer Program
• In 1986, President Ronald Reagan appointed her to the National Cancer Advisory Board

Board service

She is also affiliated with several non-profit organizations and sits on the boards of New York University Medical School, the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention Advisory Board, and the Palm Beach Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Brinker also served on the national advisory boards of the Women's Health Resource Center, Women's Health Initiative, the National Coalition of Cancer Survivorship and the National Cancer Institute. She is a former board member of such not-for-profit organizations as the National Jewish Coalition Board of Governors, New York University's Medical School Foundation, and the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast Project.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure

In 1982, Brinker established Susan G. Komen for the Cure, after a promise to her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer. Since its inception, the nonprofit has raised over $1 billion for research, education and health services, making it the largest breast cancer charity in the US. Komen has more than 75,000 volunteers nationwide — 122 affiliates in the United States (47 of 50 states) and 3 in other countries. Susan G. Komen for the Cure received Charity Navigator's highest rating, four stars.

Education

Business career

In 1994, Brinker founded In Your Corner, Inc., a business venture designed to meet the retail consumer need for reliable health and wellness products and information. In Your Corner, Inc. was sold in 1998.

She has served as a director of several publicly held corporations including Manpower, Inc., United Rentals, Inc., U.S. Oncology, Inc., Netmarket, Inc., and the Meditrust Corporation, among others.

She has testified before the United States Democratic Policy Committee's Congressional Breast Cancer Forum and participated in the International Women's Forum.

Awards

Through her career as a businesswoman, consultant, healthcare advocate and philanthropist, Nancy Brinker has received over 50 awards and titles, including:

• Time Magazine, 100 Most Influential People in the World
• The Sword of Ignatius Loyola Award from Saint Louis University
• The Healthcare Humanitarian Award presented by the Global Conference Institute
• The ASCO Special Recognition Award
• Toastmasters International Top Five Speakers for 2001 Award
• The Sisters Network 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award
• The 2000 Cino del Duca Award, the James Ewing Layman Award from the Society of Surgical Oncology
• The 1999 Caring Award
• The Albert Einstein's Sarnoff Volunteer Award
• The Ladies' Home Journal's Top 10 Champions of Women's Health
• The Texas Governor's Award for Outstanding National Service
• The Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen
• The first Salomon Smith Barney Extraordinary Achievement Award
• The Champion of Prevention Award by the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control
• 1995 University of Illinois Alumni Achievement Award
• Inducted into the Cancer Research and Treatment Fund, Inc. Cancer Survivors Hall of Fame

Publications

• The Race is Run One Step at a Time, co-authored with Catherine McEvilly Harris
• 1000 Questions About Women's Health, co-authored with Jane C. Chihal
• Winning the Race : Taking Charge of Breast Cancer, co-authored with Chriss Anne Winston

Brinker wrote the forewords for:

• Tamoxifen for the Treatment and Prevention of Breast Cancer by V. Craig Jordan
• Tamoxifen: A Guide for Clinicians and Patients by V. Craig Jordan

She has also had articles, letters and commentary published in national and international media.

See also

• Chief of Protocol of the United States
• Susan G. Komen for the Cure
• Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

References

External links

• Susan G. Komen for the Cure website
• Nancy Brinker Biography
• Office of the Chief of Protocol
• Biography of Nancy G. Brinker, U.S. Chief of Protocol