The BRAVE (Breast Restoration AdVocacy Education) Coalition Foundation announced the appointment of Lisa Shumpert as the new President of its Executive Board, effective immediately. Shumpert, a senior executive and bestselling author of Team Turnaround - Spark High Performance in Your Direct Reports, previously served as Chief Human Resources Officer at Comar, where she applied her leadership and organizational turnaround expertise.
Founded in 2012 by Dr. Allen Gabriel and Dr. Christine Grogan, BRAVE addresses the unmet needs of women seeking access to breast reconstruction plastic surgeons. The Women's Health Cancer Rights Act of 1988 aimed to bridge care gaps, but challenges persist, including difficulty finding doctors who accept insurance, lack of insurance coverage, and health disparities—Black women face a 38% higher mortality rate and less access to care.
Shumpert expressed gratitude to John Gwin, who led BRAVE over the past two years and prepared the organization for scaling. She outlined three primary goals: expand the network of breast and plastic surgeons to assist more patients, increase funding from donors, and continue partnering with Northwestern University to increase funding and education activities for Black women's access to care.
"We will continue providing essential resources to patients, making this a foundational goal," Shumpert said. The appointment comes at a critical time when insurance and access barriers remain significant. BRAVE's mission includes education, advocacy, and uniting patients with resources regardless of insurance, socio-economic status, education level, or race.
For more information or to donate, visit www.bravecoalition.org.
