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Dressed in bright orange from her tutu to her racing flats – you can’t miss Jamie Graves when she’s running. And while the outfit provides opportunities for Jamie, Director of State and Local Affairs at BP and a member of the Kidney Cancer Association’s Board of Directors, to bring awareness to the KCA’s work, it’s also a reminder that she’s…

Ritchie Johnson is the president and founder of the Chris "CJ" Johnson Foundation and serves on the KCA's Patient and Caregiver Advisory Council. How long have you been working with the KCA and what motivated you to get involved?I have been working with KCA for approximately six years. I was motivated to get involved because of my youngest son, Chris, who…

Richard Tullier was driving on a road outside Da Nang, Vietnam when his jeep hit an explosive device that injured him badly. Tullier was a US Marine serving in the Vietnam War at the time and that day he had been called to help some fellow Marines elsewhere. He spent 5 months in hospitals recovering after the accident and several…

Dr. Nicholas J. Vogelzang is a member of the KCA's Board of Directors and is a genitourinary medical oncologist at the Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada. We spoke with Dr. Vogelzang about serving on the Board and his work in medicine. What motivated you to start the Kidney Cancer Association?I was brought to the University of Chicago in the early…

After Michelle Picolo’s kidney cancer diagnosis last fall, her family and friends turned her world orange at every opportunity to show their support. At her office, where she works for the state of Louisiana, her colleagues had an ‘orange day’ and threw an orange party complete with an orange-iced cake. Her daughters distributed orange rubber wrist bands to their school…

Jamie Graves serves as Secretary of the KCA's Board of Directors and is the Director of State & Local Affairs at BP America. We spoke with Jamie about her father, who died of kidney cancer, and her service on the Board. What motivated you to get involved with the Kidney Cancer Association?My dad was diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer…

In Louisiana, more people get kidney cancer and more people die of kidney cancer compared to the rest of the United States. But Dr. Pedro Barata and his colleagues at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans are working to change that. By strengthening outreach and education for both community-based oncologists and their patients and growing a rigorous clinical…

Ryan Natzke is a kidney cancer survivor and chairs the KCA's Patient & Caregiver Advisory Council (PCAC). He is also a member of the KCA's Board of Directors and is the Chief External Affairs Officer of the Marshfield Clinic Health System in Madison, Wisconsin. The PCAC serves as the voice of the patient and provides the vital link between the…

Dr. Ronald M. Bukowski has been a member of the KCA's Board of Directors and the KCA's Medical Steering committee since the organization's inception. He currently works as the director of Bukowski Consulting, LLC, and is a member of the Emeritus Staff of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center. We spoke with Dr. Bukowski about serving on the Board and…

HOUSTON – June 15, 2020 – The Kidney Cancer Association (KCA) is launching the 74K Challenge, a virtual event to raise awareness about kidney cancer and funds for research ahead of World Kidney Cancer Day on June 18th.   Through June 30, the KCA aims to raise $74,000, which represents the nearly 74,000 people in the US estimated to receive…