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Helen Gurley Brown (HGB) Presidential Initiative

  • Helen Gurley Brown
    Helen Gurley Brown

    In 2012, longtime Cosmopolitan magazine editor-in-chief Helen Gurley Brown created the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation — formerly known as the Pussycat Foundation — to further her support for the educational and professional advancement of young women and girls, among other initiatives.

    The Helen Gurley Brown Foundation established the Helen Gurley Brown (HGB) Presidential Initiative at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 2016, in recognition of the fact that women with established scientific careers can be uniquely sensitive to the challenges facing their younger female colleagues in academic medicine — and that junior women researchers benefit by having women scientists as mentors and role models.

    The Initiative initially funded five pairs of senior women faculty and women fellows for two years, and expanded to include 10 pairs for 2018–2020. The Helen Gurley Brown Foundation grant provides two years of funding for Helen Fellows' salary, research, and professional development.

    The Initiative also includes:

    • The Helen Gurley Brown Leadership Development Program, which organizes semiannual meetings for Helen Mentors and Helen Fellows to update each other on their work
    • The Helen Gurley Brown Presidential Summit on Women and Science, an annual lecture focused on the career paths of women in science
    • Support for Helen Fellows to attend scientific conferences

    2020-2022 Helen Mentors and Helen Fellows

    Pediatric Oncology
    Helen Mentor: Kimberly Stegmaier, MD
    Helen Fellow: Jana Ellegast, MD

    Data Science
    Helen Mentor: Franziska Michor, PhD
    Helen Fellow: Dalit Engelhardt, PhD

    Pediatric Oncology
    Helen Mentor: Katherine Janeway, MD
    Helen Fellow: Suzanne Forrest, MD

    Pediatric Oncology
    Helen Mentor: Cigall Kadoch, PhD
    Helen Fellow: Claudia Gentile, PhD

    Cancer Immunology and Virology
    Helen Mentor: Laurie Glimcher, MD
    Helen Fellow: Shrestha Ghosh, PhD

    Medical Oncology
    Helen Mentor: Zuzana Tothova, MD, PhD
    Helen Fellow: Karin Golan, PhD

    Medical Oncology
    Helen Mentor: Irene Ghobrial, MD
    Helen Fellow: Elizabeth Lightbody, PhD

    Medical Oncology
    Helen Mentor: Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD
    Helen Fellow: Juliann Puleo, PhD

    Pediatric Oncology
    Helen Mentor: Katherine Warren, MD
    Helen Fellow: Joelle Straehla, MD

    Pediatric Oncology
    Helen Mentor: Pratiti Bandopadhayay, PhD, MBBS
    Helen Fellow: Jessica Tsai, MD, PhD