I am thrilled to announce that I am one of three new directors on the Ovarian Cancer Canada Board of Directors. [My photo and profile will be added to those of existing Board members on the OCC website soon.]

Yesterday, I attended the Annual General Meeting of the OCC Board in Toronto, my first meeting with the group. I was slightly apprehensive, the way I imagine I felt on the first day of university: excited to be there but a little uncertain about whether I was up for the challenge. I felt what I've previously described as joyfear—a mix of happiness and trepidation. But as the meeting unfolded, I also felt a growing conviction that this opportunity would prove to be a life-changing experience.

It didn't take long for me to feel comfortable. The group welcomed me and the other new board members with authentic gratitude. The Board and management team were dedicated, professional and kind. I felt comfortable with all matters pertaining to ovarian cancer, having spent more than three years immersed in the subject.

At various points in the meeting—once while outgoing chair Erin Barrett made remarks and another time while incoming chair Karen Greve Young spoke—I teared up. It means so much to me to be able to bring to this new role my 3+ years of lived experience as an ovarian cancer survivor and my 20+ years of experience as an executive in the Canadian Public Service, including as assistant deputy minister of communications for Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada. Now is the perfect time to take another step in raising awareness of this disease.

Among my favourite parts of the meeting and the subsequent dinner were discussions of some of the research funded in part by OCC. Jeanette Boudreau, Scientific Director of the Halifax-based Beatrice Cancer Research Institute and Associate Professor at Dalhousie University, presented her research into the use of immunotherapy to tackle ovarian cancer. And at dinner, I spoke with Barbara Vanderhyden, who is the Corinne Boyer Chair in Ovarian Cancer Research at the University of Ottawa and a Senior Scientist with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Her research focuses on cellular and molecular processes associated with ovarian tumorigenesis, the generation of ovarian cancer models, and the testing of novel therapeutics. When I hear about such research, it fills me with hope that ovarian cancer may one day be increasingly preventable and, should it occur, entirely curable.

I look forward to learning more about OCC—the research it funds, the support it provides to those touched by ovarian cancer and the advocacy it does on behalf of the people living with and beyond the disease and those who will be diagnosed in the future. And I look forward to sharing some of this with Jenesis readers.