St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and ALSAC Board Re-elects Chairs and Vice Chairs

MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital^® and ALSAC, its fundraising and awareness organization, announced today that all four chairs and vice chairs of the ALSAC/ St. Jude Boards of Directors and Governors were re-elected for a third term, lasting one year. The announcement comes as St. Jude continues to advance its $12.9 billion strategic plan.

Those re-elected to lead the Boards, effective July 1, are:

• St. Jude Chair Judy A. Habib, an experienced business leader and brand strategist with roots in healthcare and lab sciences. Habib chaired the ALSAC Board of Directors from 2019 to 2021 and is the first woman to have chaired both Boards. She is the immediate past president and board chair of the International Women’s Forum of Massachusetts; serves on the board of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce; and recently sold KHJ Inc., a highly successful branding agency she co-founded and led as CEO for 35 years.

• St. Jude Vice Chair Gabriel G. Haddad, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and Neurosciences, chair of the Department of Pediatrics and vice dean for Children’s Academic Programs at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Haddad is also physician-in-chief and chief scientific officer at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego. He was previously a faculty member at Columbia University in New York and professor of Pediatrics and Molecular & Cellular Physiology at Yale University. Before moving to UCSD, Haddad was chair of Pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in New York.

• ALSAC Chair Frederick M. Azar, M.D., chief of staff of Memphis-based Campbell Clinic and a professor and director of the Sports Medicine Fellowship Program in the University of Tennessee-Campbell Clinic Department of Orthopaedic Surgery & Biomedical Engineering. Azar is a past president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the NBA Team Physicians Association.

• ALSAC Vice Chair Sharon L. McCollam, president and chief financial officer of Albertsons Companies, Inc. who currently serves on the public boards of Signet Jewelers Limited and Stitch Fix, Inc. McCollam previously served as an executive officer of Best Buy, Inc. and Williams Sonoma, Inc. and as a board member of Advanced Auto Parts, Inc., Chewy, Inc., Del Monte Foods, Inc., Hallmark Cards, Inc., Office Max, Sutter Health and Whole Foods Market, Inc.

Members of the Boards of Directors and Governors serve on a volunteer basis without compensation. They provide governance and strategic oversight for St. Jude and ALSAC. Habib has served on the ALSAC/St. Jude Boards since 1994 and Haddad joined in 2011. Azar has served since 2012 and McCollam joined in 2017.

“The ALSAC/St. Jude Boards have played a critical role in guiding our mission to advance cures and means of prevention for pediatric catastrophic diseases since St. Jude was founded more than 60 years ago,” said James R. Downing, M.D., president and CEO of St. Jude. “At a time of significant opportunity and change in science and global pediatric healthcare, I am grateful for the opportunity to continue working with Judy, Gabriel and the Board to find cures and save children everywhere.”

“Fred and Sharon’s counsel and partnership over the past two years have helped ALSAC surpass its annual fundraising goals and forge new connections with supporters, and I have learned so much from them,” said Ike Anand, president and CEO of ALSAC. “I look forward to continuing to work alongside them as ALSAC raises the funds and awareness needed to fuel the $12.9 billion St. Jude strategic plan that is accelerating research and treatment for childhood cancer and other catastrophic diseases around the world.”

Thanks to the support of 11 million active donors, St. Jude is able to maintain its foundational promise that no family ever receives a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food – so they can focus on helping their child live.

About St. Jude Children's Research Hospital^®

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Its purpose is clear: Finding cures. Saving children.^® It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. When St. Jude opened in 1962, childhood cancer was largely considered incurable. Since then, St. Jude has helped push the overall survival rate from 20% to more than 80% in the United States, and it won't stop until no child dies from cancer. St. Jude shares the breakthroughs it makes to help doctors and researchers at local hospitals and cancer centers around the world improve the quality of treatment and care for even more children. Because of generous donors, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food, so they can focus on helping their child live. Visit St. Jude Inspire to discover powerful St. Jude stories of hope, strength, love and kindness. Support the St. Jude mission by donating at stjude.org, liking St. Jude on Facebook, following St. Jude on X, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok, and subscribing to its YouTube channel.