Fran Visco is the President of the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) and a member of its Board of Directors. NBCC is a grassroots advocacy coalition of hundreds of organizations and tens of thousands of individual members. Ms. Visco is an honors graduate of St. Joseph’s University and of Villanova Law School, where she was an editor of The Villanova Law Review and a chair of the Women’s Law Caucus.
Ms. Visco was a partner in a large Philadelphia law firm where her practice concentrated on commercial and multi-district litigation. She resigned her practice to focus on NBCC activities and continue her full-time role as NBCC President.
President Clinton appointed Ms. Visco as one of three members of the President’s Cancer Panel; she was reappointed to successive terms. She served as a member of the President’s Cancer Panel Special Commission on Breast Cancer until its dissolution, and was the first consumer to chair the Integration Panel of the Department of Defense Peer-Reviewed Breast Cancer Research Program. Ms. Visco co-chaired the National Action Plan on Breast Cancer and served on the National Cancer Policy Board. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Translational Research In Oncology, an international non-profit clinical trials consortium.
Ms. Visco has been appointed to several Institute of Medicine panels and served as a member of the IOM Roundtable on Evidence Based Medicine. She is a previous member of the Board of Directors of Women’s Way in Philadelphia, the nation’s oldest and largest women’s funding federation.
In recognition of Ms. Visco’s leadership and contributions to breast cancer advocacy, she has received numerous awards and honors, including the American Cancer Society Distinguished Service Award and was twice named one of the 40 most influential people in the Pharmaceutical Industry by World Pharmaceutical Frontiers Magazine.
Ms. Visco’s additional honors include: the Humanitarian Award from the Sons of Italy Foundation; La Medaille de la Ville De Paris (Echelon Vermeil) from the Mayor of Paris; the Catherine Logan Award for Service to Survivorship from the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship; the Human Element in Medicine Award from the American-Italian Cancer Foundation; and a Public Service Award for Outstanding Leadership and Dedicated Service from the American Association for Cancer Research. Ms. Visco was a signatory to the Treaty Contra Cancer in the Elysee Palace in Paris. Over the course of her advocacy work, she has been named an ABC “Person of the Week,” received Mirabella Magazine’s first Powerhouse Award and was honored as one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year. Ms. Visco is the recipient of honorary doctorates from the University of Connecticut, Cedar Crest College, Bloomfield College and St. Joseph’s University. In addition, she received the 23rd Annual Lucretia Mott Award from Women’s Way.
Ms. Visco is a more than 30-year breast cancer survivor. She resides in Philadelphia with her husband; they are the parents of a 34-year-old son.
