Diane Zipursky Quale

Diane Zipursky Quale is the co-founder of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, the first national patient advocacy organization dedicated to increasing public awareness about bladder cancer, advancing bladder cancer research, and providing educational and support services for the bladder cancer community. Diane and her husband, John Quale, launched BCAN in May 2005.  John, a bladder cancer survivor who was initially diagnosed in July 2000, died of metastatic bladder cancer in June 2008.

Ms. Zipursky Quale served as President of BCAN from 2005-2016, and has been a member of BCAN’s Board of Directors since its inception.  In addition to her active role at BCAN, Ms. Zipursky Quale has served as a patient advocate for a variety of other entities, including as a member of the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Cancer Institute (NCI): as the patient advocate representative on the NCI’s Bladder Cancer Task Force; as a member of  the External Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins Greenberg Bladder Cancer Institute and as a member of the Board of Directors of The Hope Foundation for Cancer Research, a public charity supporting SWOG Cancer Research Network.  She has also served as an Associate Editor of the international journal, Bladder Cancer. 

Ms. Zipursky Quale is co-author of numerous published articles relating to bladder cancer, including, most recently, “Collaborative study from the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network for the genomic analysis of metastatic urothelial cancer,” Nature Nov. 2022;  “Checklist for Improving Patient Communication on Bladder Preservation Options:  The Patient Advocate Perspective,” Clinical Oncology, Sept. 2022; “Future Directions in Bladder Cancer Treatment and Research—The Patient Advocates’ Perspective,” Hematology/Oncology Clinics of North America, April 2021.

Ms. Zipursky Quale holds a BA from Stanford University and a JD from the National Law Center, George Washington University.  She was in private law practice for 16 years and then became Washington Counsel at National Broadcasting Company (NBC), and was later promoted to Vice President, Washington Law and Policy.  She left NBC in 2002 and became an active participant in the cancer community.