Lisa J. Frank, President

Lisa was diagnosed with stage-I breast cancer in 1998 at the age of 36.

As one of 13 founding members of Young Survival Coalition (YSC) Lisa has provided leadership and strength to the organization. Her first role in the YSC was co-chair of fundraising for the new organization.  She has also served in several other key roles as a member of the YSC SurvivorLink program (formerly Peer to Peer support), the Development Committee, Vice-President of the YSC Board of Directors and now President of the YSC Board of Directors. As an avid cyclist, Lisa co-founded the Tour de Pink (TdP)—a 220+ mile, multi-day charity ride to benefit YSC.

In 2004, while Lisa worked to organize the first Tour de Pink, she was diagnosed with a recurrence, stage-II breast cancer and was unable to ride that year or the following year. While never wavering in her commitment to Tour de Pink and YSC, Lisa got back on her bike in 2006 with over 50 other riders and rode from NYC to Hershey, PA in the 2006 York Tour de Pink. As a co-founder of the event and lead member of the TdP leadership committee, Lisa continues to rally support for the ride’s ongoing success in its numerous locations. The event now raises over $1 million a year for YSC. 

Most recently Lisa was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and continues her fight to rid herself of this disease while supporting other women through their journey.

Lisa continues to give of herself by sharing her story with other young survivors, providing support and hope. She is a lifeline to others in her work as a SurvivorLink member for YSC and continues to ride in support of other causes she cares about like MS and Autism.

Lisa graduated Syracuse University College of Law in 1987 and has practiced law at prestigious law firms and cutting edge technology companies.  Lisa is currently Vice President - Managing Counsel of the Small Business Services Division of ADP, Inc. the leading payroll processing company in the U.S. Lisa resides in Red Bank, N.J., with her longtime partner Steve.

Karen Borkowsky Kennedy, Vice President

Karen Borkowsky Kennedy is a breast cancer survivor and has been involved with the Young Survival Coalition since 1999, when the organization was newly formed. Her breast cancer diagnosis in 1998 ignited a deep passion in her for the issues related to young women with breast cancer.  As the only organization with a mission solely dedicated to this issue, YSC became an integral part of her life.  She has spent more than a decade as a volunteer for many of YSC’s outstanding programs and events including the annual C4YW conference, In Living Pink, as well as various committees. In 2007, she joined the Board of Directors and was recently appointed Vice President.  

Prior to her diagnosis, Karen was a women’s shoe buyer at Macy’s, where she was responsible for a business that generated $140 million in sales.  She left Macy’s in 1999 to dedicate her professional life to fundraising for breast cancer, and, as a result, she developed a wealth of knowledge and expertise from the nonprofit and fundraising world. She was the Director of Making Strides Against Breast Cancer at the American Cancer Society in New York City for several years before becoming the National Director of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer at the Avon Foundation for Women.  Her leadership and management skills enabled these events to set record revenue growth during her tenure. 

Karen left her position at the Avon Foundation for Women in 2008 to focus on building her family.  Fertility was a challenging ordeal for her as it is for many young breast cancer survivors. She and her husband Bob, adopted their daughter Abigail in 2009, and, with the help of fertility treatments, she gave birth to twins, Isabel and Jake, shortly thereafter.  She is now a full-time mom to these three amazing children.

Karen graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with a B.A. in Business-Psychology. 

Michael Wirth, Treasurer

Michael Wirth is the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Kohlberg Capital Corporation, a business development company focused on debt and equity investments in middle market companies. Mr. Wirth has over 30 years experience in the financial services sector and has managed over $2 billion in real-estate debt and equity securities and advised or structured over $30 billion in structured, real-estate debt. During his career as a CFO, he has led and executed five Initial Public Offerings of real estate or finance companies. He also serves on the board of Quontic Bank.

Mitchell Fink, Secretary

When Mitchell's daughter, Andrea, received a diagnosis of breast cancer, he turned his passion for bicycling and fundraising efforts for cancer causes into a way to help her. After participating in the YSC Tour de Pink, he became active in helping to organize the annual event, and that has led to his expanded YSC efforts as a member of the board of directors. Mitchell has an extensive background in the design and implementation of computer systems serving clients in the financial services industry. Operating his own consultancy practice since 1975, engagements have included the audit of existing information technology systems and making evaluations and recommendations for work process change. This has led to an expanded focus of reviews and designs of internal controls and corporate governance. He has been a member of the board at the New York University Management Institute as well as an adjunct professor. Mitchell has served on a number of other not-for-profit boards.

Joy Simha, Founder

Joy Simha, a 17-year breast cancer survivor, is one of the three Co-Founders of the Young Survival Coalition (YSC) an innovative and unique support network for young women affected by breast cancer.  She represents the YSC on the Board of Directors of the National Breast Cancer Coalition. Trained through NBCC's Project LEAD^®, Joy has put her science training to good use as a member of the Integration Panel of the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, a member of the CDC Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer in Young Women and a panel member on the Institute of Medicine's Evidence Communication Innovation Collaborative.

Dinamarie Alcuri

Dinamarie joined the YSC in 2001 when her friend, Lisa Marie Muccilo, founded the New Jersey Networking Group. After Lisa lost her battle with breast cancer, Dinamarie served as president of the YSC’s Northern New Jersey Affiliate from 2003 to 2007. She has helped to raise over $400,000 for YSC and launched numerous programs and partnerships within the service area. Dinamarie played an integral role in the Northern New Jersey Group, reaching affiliate status. Involved on both the local and national level, Dinamarie has served on the YSC's National Volunteer Development Committee, Affiliate Leadership Conference Planning Committee and National Affiliation Committee. She is a Lifetime Television Breast Cancer Hero and recipient of the YSC National Lisa Muccilo Award for Excellence in Volunteering. Dinamarie also plays a key role in other nonprofits throughout the Northern New Jersey community, including Komen for the Cure, Scleroderma Foundation and Girl Scouts. In both 2006 and 2007, she earned the President of the United States' Volunteer Service Award — Gold Level.

Dinamarie is the logistics manager for a leading apparel manufacturer. With over 15 years experience in the fashion industry, her strengths lie in budget forecasting, operational efficiency and team building. Dinamarie earned a B.S. in marketing from the College of New Jersey and an M.S. from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Lise Geduldig

Lise Geduldig brings to YSC more than two decades of public relations and strategic healthcare communications experience, including work on advanced oncology treatments. She currently serves as Principal of her own healthcare communications consulting business, which is based in New Hope, Pa., and provides communications counsel to clients across the life sciences spectrum. Her client portfolio includes global and specialty pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and medical device manufacturers. Prior to founding Lise Geduldig Communications Consulting in 2006, Lise held senior-level positions in corporate and product communications in the health insurance and pharmaceutical sectors.

Lise has been involved with YSC breast cancer awareness and advocacy through volunteer activities, fundraising and participation in its YSC Tour de Pink ride to benefit young breast cancer survivors for several years. As a friend to many women affected by breast cancer, Lise views improving care for young women with breast cancer and the need for increased research, resources and education as critical issues that she can help advance through her involvement on YSC's Board of Directors. She is an alumnus of Bucknell University.

Kathleen Werner

Kathleen “Kat” Werner was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer at age 31 in 2006.  She had two young children and a vast family history of breast cancer but found herself feeling isolated and received many varied opinions on what she should do.  She realized, as a young woman with breast cancer, that there were very different options and little knowledge on issues such as fertility and special issues that are unique to this demographic.  After diving into medical journals and current research she worked with her oncologist to develop a cutting edge treatment plan. Through this process she has learned that she has an ability to translate a lot of this research into usable information for newly diagnosed women and various advocacy organizations as well help lead the dialogue between advocates, survivors and researchers.

Kat found the YSC message boards the night she was diagnosed and considered the support, guidance and fellowship to be transformative and invaluable in her cancer experience.  She often calls YSC her, “First Love” in cancer advocacy. She now does breast cancer research advocacy full-time for various organizations including; Young Survival Coalition, National Institute of Health, the Cochrane Collaboration, American Cancer Society, the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation, Research Advocacy Network, the National Cancer Institute and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  She is a graduate of the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s Project LEAD Institute, Research Advocacy Network Focus on Research, American Association for Cancer Research’s Scientist – Survivor program, and the Alamo Breast Cancer Foundation.

She has done grant review, public speaking, working group consultation, research consulting, ethics review boards, writing, symposium chair and lots of dissemination to various organizational affiliations.  Her ultimate goal is to help lead the fight in finding a cure before her two young daughters grow up, so they might know a world without breast cancer. Kat lives in Blacksburg, Va., with her husband of 12 years, Jeff, and her three children Bethany, Liam and Elise.  

Ann Partridge, M.D., M.P.H., (Chair, Medical Advisory Board)

Ann Partridge, M.D., M.P.H., is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and serves as the director of the Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer in the Breast Oncology Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Her clinical research focuses on psychosocial, communication and survivorship issues in breast cancer, with a particular interest in the unique issues facing young women with breast cancer, including fertility concerns.

Dr. Partridge serves as a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Survivorship Task Force, Fertility Preservation Guidelines Committee and Health Services Committee. She is also co-chair of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) Committee on Advocacy, Research Communication and Ethics (CARE) Committee. She has received awards and grants for her research, including an ASCO Career Development Award, Tracy Starr Breast Cancer Research Fund Award and Lance Armstrong Foundation Cancer Survivorship Award.

Dr. Partridge graduated from Georgetown University, earned her M.D. at Cornell University, trained in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and completed hematology- and medical-oncology fellowships at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She also received a master's degree in public health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Ex Officio

Anna Cluxton, Past President

Board Emeritus

Ken Preston
Randi Rosenberg
Cynthia Rubin