Kathleen Gavin is the Executive Director of MOCA. She provides strategic leadership to accomplish the goals and objectives of the organization and to identify and obtain needed resources. She also serves as the senior spokesperson for the organization and as the leader of its grant-making activities.
Gavin is the co-chair of the Mayo Clinic’s Ovarian Cancer SPORE patient advocacy committee and serves as a patient advocate to the Roswell Park/University of Chicago Ovarian Cancer SPORE. She also served as a patient advocate on the Stand Up 2 Cancer Ovarian Cancer Dream Team and as a former patient advocate on the national NRG Oncology (formerly Gynecologic Oncology Group), serving on the ovarian and developmental therapeutic committees. In addition, Gavin served for 13 years as a member of the University of Minnesota’s Masonic Cancer Center community advisory board.
Gavin is the primary liaison between MOCA and the national Any Mountain initiative which focuses on the prevention and early detection of ovarian cancer through research and creative endeavors.
The Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) selected Gavin as the recipient of the Gynecologic Oncology Humanitarian and Volunteerism Award at their 2018 Annual Meeting. In 2023, Gavin was presented with the Award for Outstanding Support for Ovarian Cancer Research at the Ovarian Cancer Midwest Focus Annual Conference.
Gavin holds a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University. She was the administrative director of the Women’s Health Care Program at Columbia University for three years. She has also worked as the health and human services policy analyst for the governor of Vermont and as the director of planning and development of medical services for the state of Vermont.
Gavin was a founding member of the Institute for Sustainable Communities, a nonprofit organization that does environmental work internationally, and worked to build that organization for seven years.
She has served on numerous boards and provided consulting services to foundations and nonprofit organizations.
Gavin has two adult children and lives with her husband in South Minneapolis. She loves to hike and is a fair-weather bicycle commuter.
Gavin can be reached at 612-822-0500 or kgavin@mnovarian.org.
