For twenty-two years, Elaine Grobman has been involved in the fight against breast cancer.  In 2001 Grobman was instrumental in the founding of the Komen Philadelphia Affiliate, serving as the Executive Director and quickly growing it into one of the most successful Komen Affiliates nationwide.

Since being promoted to CEO in November 2010, Grobman has continued in her Executive Director's responsibilities, while also heading up new strategies to generate corporate and philanthropic support for the Affiliate, empower more grass-roots organizations in their community breast health initiatives, and embrace larger and more diverse populations in critical education, early detection and support services.

In her efforts to build bridges and to reach members of the LGBT communities, Grobman has established personal and professional ties with Executive Director Nurit Shein and Mazzoni Center.  Grobman’s instinct was that all LGBT people, especially transgender individuals, needed to be educated about the risk for breast cancer and treated with the same dignity and respect as other populations when seeking support.  Over the years, funding and programmatic partnerships have positively impacted many of our clients and patients at Mazzoni Center. Thanks to the generous support of the Komen Philadelphia Affiliate we are able to provide 1,000 clinical breast exams and referrals to mammograms for women and transgender individuals each year, and to disseminate information to countless others.  

This month we recognize Elaine Grobman as an important ally to Mazzoni Center and the communities we serve.  In the attached photo, Elaine is shown attending Elixir: the Cure for the Common Gala, Mazzoni Center’s fundraising event last spring. (*Save the Date for this year's Elixir event: Friday, May 18, 2012!)