Clinical Associate Professor Colleen Boraca wrote an article for the May 2022 edition of The Catalyst, the newsletter of the ISBA Standing Committee on Women and the Law. The article, Using Legal Training to Advocate for a World Free of Breast Cancer, describes how Professor Boraca has utilized the skills she has developed both in law school and throughout her career to advocate on behalf of those impacted by breast cancer. After losing her mother to breast cancer in 2002 and starting a preventative treatment program, Professor Boraca became an Advocacy Ambassador with the Susan G. Komen Foundation. In this role, she has helped educate federal lawmakers about legislation including the Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act, the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program and Access to Breast Care Diagnosis Act. She encourages others to use the skills they have developed as attorneys to advocate for organizations in their communities.
Professor Boraca has been a passionate advocate for promoting research and treatment for breast cancer since losing her own mother to the illness in 2002. This advocacy also is related to Professor Boraca’s work at the College of Law. The NIU College of Law Health Advocacy Clinic, which she directs, aims to help those impacted by poverty, homelessness, and disabling health conditions. In 2021, Professor Boraca was the recipient of the Chicago Bar Foundation’s Jay Leonard Schrager Award of Excellence. The Award was established to recognize exemplary attorneys in academia who, in the spirit of Schrager’s legacy, have made significant and lasting contributions to improving access to justice.
