Stephanie Kauffman
President & Chief Operating Officer
Stephanie Kauffman is the president and chief operating officer for the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA), the largest private, non-profit funder of melanoma research in the world. At MRA, Stephanie and the team have a laser-sharp focus on funding game-changing research to accelerate prevention, early detection technologies and treatments for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.
After years building multi-billion-dollar programs and brand partnerships for Universal Studios, Stephanie stepped away from movie sets to direct her energy into tackling some of the world’s most pressing health issues, inequities, and global crises. Her efforts have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars for cancer research, medicine security and disaster relief.
Prior to joining MRA, Stephanie held senior leadership positions at global health and medical research organizations. Most recently, Stephanie was the head of strategic partnerships for Americares, a leading health equity organization responding to disasters, pandemics and humanitarian crises with life-changing medical aid and health services.
Stephanie is also the former chief communications and partnerships officer for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), the largest private funder of breast cancer research in the world. During her BCRF tenure, Stephanie led communications, media, digital, mobile, metaverse, corporate and affiliate partner strategies. During her tenure, Stephanie and her team raised over $100 million in corporate partner support for breast cancer.
Before she pivoted into cancer research, Stephanie was the senior vice president, global alliances for Universal Pictures. She worked on film marketing campaigns for over 30 Universal films and brokered an unprecedented partnership between Dodge and the Fast & Furious film franchise and was on the executive team that built the Despicable Me Minions into a billion-dollar consumer products powerhouse.
Stephanie serves on the board of directors for the International Women’s Media Foundation, an organization that supports women journalists and developing their careers with a mission of creating gender equity in the global newsroom. She is on the steering committee for the National Council for Skin Cancer Prevention and a 92Y Women in Power Fellows mentor.
Stephanie holds a BS in Marketing Management from Florida Southern College.
