Skip to content

Advocate Leaders

Since 2013, our Advocate Leaders have raised awareness through news articles and advertisements, developed relationships with their elected officials, and fought for increased funding for ovarian cancer research throughout the country.

As an advocate leader, you will receive training through in person meetings, webinars and written materials that explain the basics of effective advocacy, help you get comfortable communicating with elected officials and their staff, and increase your understanding of legislative issues important to the ovarian cancer community. You will attend the OCRA Advocate Leaders Fly-In in Washington, DC, to advocate on Capitol Hill, mentor advocates at the Ovarian Cancer National Conference, and respond to “calls to action” from OCRA.

Interested in becoming an Advocate Leader? We’ll begin accepting applications for 2021 soon. Sign up to get a notification email!

Advocates can work independently and, over time, will begin to coordinate efforts with other advocates in their district and state to form a network of like-minded grassroots volunteers. We ask Advocates to follow up with OCRA to report outcomes of their interactions with their elected officials.

Advocate Leader Map 2020
Our 2020 Advocate Leaders are located throughout the United States

What Advocate Leaders Do in the Field

  • Initiate and build relationships with their elected officials and elected officials’ staff
  • Issue calls to action in their community
  • Serve as a “whip” to follow up with legislators who have failed to fulfill Advocate Leaders’ requests
  • Work with OCRA to organize local meetings
  • Expand the network of local advocates to increase the ovarian cancer community’s advocacy presence in a particular state or district

Meet 2 OCRA Advocate Leaders

Elise D., and Sayla H., OCRFA Advocate Leaders

Elise feels lucky that she was diagnosed with early-stage ovarian cancer, and being an Advocate Leader allows her to fight for women who may not be able to fight for themselves.

Sayla was diagnosed earlier this year and is currently in treatment. She’s determined to use her experience to help other women, and is empowered to advocate for women fighting ovarian cancer through OCRA’s Advocate Leader program.

OCRA’s Advocate Leaders program is supported by grants from