In front of a capacity audience at Masur Auditorium May 18, Katie Couric accepted the 2001 NCI Eleanor Nealon
Extraordinary Communicators Award and talked about her experience with cancer and how it has influenced her
professional reporting about the disease. Fifty two other NIH employees attended the lecture in designated
overflow rooms across campus, Fredrick tuned in via videocast, and 161 other NIH employees viewed the event
via webcast on their desktops.
Through her late husband’s struggle with colorectal cancer, Couric and NCI Deputy Director Dr. Rabson
developed a personal relationship that he described during her introduction as an educational exchange. After much
heartfelt praise and good-natured teasing, Rabson introduced Couric.
Couric began her lecture by saying that she was honored to receive an award in memory of someone as “gutsy,
smart, passionate, and compassionate” as Eleanor Nealon. She thanked Nealon’s husband, Tony, and NCI for the
opportunity to speak at the Eleanor Nealon Extraordinary Communicators Lecture Series. Her speech included highlights
of the work of the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (for which she is a co-founder), and information
about her on-air colonoscopy. She joked that since the “Today” series aired, she is amazed at what people are
willing to share with her about their colons. On a more serious note, she said that it is that kind of openness that
is needed to communicate with and educate people about colorectal cancer and its prevention, detection, and treatment.
Dr. Klausner and Couric accepted questions from the audience before he presented her with the globe-shaped
crystal award. A reception followed the lecture in the Clinical Center’s Visitor Information Center.
To read more about the lecture, please visit the
NIH Record article featuring the
event.
Katie Couric Accepts NCI Extraordinary Communicators Award