Diane Balma, J.D.

Director of Public Policy
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

Diane Balma, a 10-year breast cancer survivor, joined the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in 1998, serving as Senior Counsel and Director of Public Policy. Her responsibilities have included providing expert legal advice and counsel to members of the Komen Foundation’s Executive Team, senior management, and leaders in the Affiliate network, which consists of more than 75,000 volunteers in 15,000 communities across the United States, as well as in Puerto Rico, Germany and Italy. Balma works closely with the Komen Foundation staff, Affiliates, volunteers and the Board of Directors to fulfill the organization’s mission to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by advancing research, education, screening and treatment.

Balma now directs the Foundation’s Public Policy department full-time. In this capacity, Balma manages legislative and regulatory affairs and public policy initiatives and activities between the Foundation’s Washington, D.C. representatives and Komen executive management, including the Foundation’s grassroots policy program, Komen Champions for the Cure®. She is nationally recognized for her expertise in matters regarding breast health and breast cancer care legislation and regulatory issues, and she works closely with policy-makers, including Congressional leaders and the White House. Balma is frequently asked to share her story of breast cancer survivorship across the country and in our nation’s capitol, where she has participated in numerous Congressional briefings and met with President George W. Bush about the urgent need for a cure. Balma has also provided numerous television and other media interviews to spread awareness about breast cancer, including appearances on CNN and the Rosie O’Donnell show.

Prior to joining the Komen Foundation, Balma was in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1991 through 1996. A graduate of the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., Balma received her J.D. from Pacific’s, McGeorge School of Law, where she finished in the top six percent of her freshman class and graduated in 1991 with high honors. Balma’s studies included a stint in London where she honed her advocacy skills under the instruction of then and current United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, a former Constitutional Law professor at Pacific. Under Justice Kennedy, Balma’s coursework abroad included a comprehensive comparison of the United States Constitution and the European Convention, as well as a critique of what has become commonly known as the “American flag burning” case of 1989, in which Justice Kennedy filed a concurring opinion.