Bladder Cancer and “Inside Politics 2008”

Last night Michael and I attended a fundraiser for the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN), a client of mine. BCAN will soon celebrate its third year anniversary. The reception was held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., with an “Inside Politics 2008” panel discussion afterwards. I’ve been invited to past events but this was the first time I was able to attend. I offered my services as her complimentary photographer for the evening.

Diane and John Quale founded the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) three years ago, after discovering that there was little knowledge among the general public and general medical community about the causes, symptoms and treatment of bladder cancer. It is the 5th most commonly-diagnosed cancer in the U.S., but the lack of public recognition of the disease results in less funds allocated by the federal government to research devoted to the diagnosis, treatment and cure. To learn more about BCAN, visit their website at www.bcan.org

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Left to right:

Journalist David Gregory is currently the NBC News Chief White House Correspondent, occasional guest host on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews and Meet the Press, substitute co-anchor of Weekend Today, occasional fill-in for Matt Lauer on The Today Show, occasional fill-in for NBC News Weekend Nightly News, and now host of his own show, Race for the White House, on MSNBC.

Columnist David Brooks writes a column on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times, is a senior editor at The Weekly Standard, a contributing editor at Newsweek and the Atlantic Monthly, and currently a commentator on Newshour with Jim Lehrer. He is also a frequent analyst on NPR’s All Things Considered and the Diane Rehm Show. His articles have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, and many others. He is the author of Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There, and On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense, both published by Simon & Schuster. Mr. Brooks worked for nine years at The Wall Street Journal.

Journalist Gwen Ifill is moderator and managing editor of the PBS program, Washington Week in Review, and is also senior correspondent with the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. In 2004, she moderated the vice presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards. She has worked for the Boston Herald, the Baltimore Evening Sun, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and NBC.

Diane Zipursky Quale is co-founder and Director/President of BCAN. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Stanford University and a Juris Doctor from the National Law Center, George Washington University. She was in private law practice until 1996 when she became Washington Counsel for the National Broadcasting Company, Inc. (NBC), and was later promoted to Vice President, Washington Law and Policy for NBC. Her husband and BCAN co-founder, John Quale, holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Harvard College and a Juris Doctor from Harvard University. He is a partner with Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and heads the firm’s communications practice. John is a bladder cancer survivor.

Journalist Bob Schieffer is anchor of The CBS Evening News, and has been the anchor and moderator of “Face the Nation” since 1991. In 2004, he was the moderator of the third presidential debate between President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry. Bob has won six Emmy awards, and has written two books about his journalism career: Face the Nation: My Favorite Stories from the First 50 Years of the Award-Winning News Broadcast, and This Just In: What I Couldn’t Tell You on TV. He was a regular guest on the Don Imus morning radio show. Bob is a bladder cancer survivor.