Nancy Achin Audesse

Executive Director of the
Massachusetts
Board of
Registration in Medicine

Nancy Achin Audesse, Executive Director of the Board of Registration in Medicine, has been a tireless advocate for patients' rights in Massachusetts and throughout the country.

As a teenager, she overcame a battle with Hodgkin's Disease, a lymphatic cancer, to graduate from Harvard University. After a successful business career, Nancy Achin Audesse turned to public service. She worked to meet the needs of inner-city children as the Executive Director of the Lowell Girls Club and was active in numerous civic and cultural activities in her hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts.

This sense of public service led her to run, successfully, for the Massachusetts State Senate in 1990. As a Senator, she responded to many health care issues affecting the people of Massachusetts. She sponsored or co-sponsored legislation to improve the quality of mammography services in Massachusetts, to fund the state Breast Cancer Initiative, and to require insurance coverage for certain categories of cancer treatments.

She has also been active in citizen lobbying efforts to improve health care on the federal level. Senator Audesse's legislative career was cut short when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and was too ill to seek re-election.

As a private citizen, Nancy Achin Audesse used her knowledge of the legislative initiatives and passion for public service to mobilize community groups and individuals to become involved in changes in health care policy and funding.

Despite a recurrence of her breast cancer, Nancy Achin Audesse accepted the challenge of developing breast cancer Education & Outreach programs for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health while undergoing rigorous cancer treatment. At the same time, she was the statewide Crusade Chair for the American Cancer Society and chaired its "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" walk to awareness and funds for breast cancer research.

She has spoken to hundreds of community groups throughout the country on the importance of patient empowerment and has contributed to many publications on health care issues. In 1994, she was honored by Turner Broadcasting Systems as one of five outstanding women in America for her contributions to women's health.

She was also the first recipient of the Audesse Award, named in her honor by the Massachusetts Society of Clinical Oncologists, which recognizes the contributions of non-physicians in the fight against cancer.

In 1996, she led the successful effort to implement the Board of Registration in Medicine's Physicians Profiles program, a first-in-the-nation effort to give patients more information about their health care providers.

Nancy Achin Audesse dedicates her work on behalf of patients to two courageous women; her beloved aunt, Elaine Pyne, and Nancy's younger sister, Elizabeth Achin. They died within three days of each other in 1996 after long battles with cancer.