Name: Ricki Fairley

Position: CEO & Founder of TOUCH: The Black Breast Cancer Alliance

Bio: Ricki has two daughters, Amanda Brown Lierman and Hayley Brown, three granddaughters, Belle, Leia, and Hart, and another grandbaby on the way, who remind her of her purpose every day. Ricki is a graduate of Dartmouth College and holds an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Why I’m passionate about patient engagement: “I am very blessed to be living my purpose to help Black women through Black breast cancer. I am only alive because I took experimental drugs for my triple negative breast cancer. My doctor gave me two years to live and I am now on 13 years doing my God Job! Receiving this award provides an invaluable opportunity to bring attention to the devastating impact of Black Breast Cancer. Black women are 41% more likely to die of breast cancer than white women. Black women under the age of 35 are twice as likely to get breast cancer than white women and three times more likely to die. These statistics are unacceptable and we must advance breast cancer science for Black women. I am excited and very grateful to get this recognition. Thank you.”