NORFOLK, Va. – More than 100 gathered at the Downtown Norfolk Sheraton on Saturday to advocate for the health of postmenopausal women.
The Awards Breakfast is part of a weekend-long Seasoned Women’s Health Summit organized by nonprofit Project Nana . The summit aims to spotlight a heightened cancer risk for women after menopause.
At the breakfast, Project Nana founder Vanessa Hill gave out the inaugural Gwen Ifill Seasoned Women’s Champion Award to AARP CEO JoAnn Jenkins.
Ifill was a groundbreaking journalist who made a career covering U.S. Politics, moderating presidential debates and hosting several programs for PBS, including Washington Week and PBS Newshour. Ifill was just 61 when she passed away from endometrial cancer in 2016.
“It reminds me of how a person of consequence can make a difference for so many people in the world,” Ifill’s brother, Dr. Roberto Ifill, said to the crowd before revealing his sister’s cancer was stage 4 by the time she was diagnosed.
It’s the same cancer that took Hill’s grandmother, for whom Project Nana was founded. Hill says her ‘Nana’ was also diagnosed at stage 4, as are many women who are postmenopausal.