Justine Almada ’01 is the Executive Director and co-founder of The Anal Cancer Foundation and NOMAN Campaign. Alongside her brother and sister, Justine founded the organizations after their loving and incredible mother died from anal cancer in 2010. Anal cancer is part of a larger group of cancers caused by the skin virus, HPV, which causes 5% of all cancer globally yet is preventable with immunization and screening. Justine has steered the Foundation’s programs to raise awareness, advocate for prevention, accelerate treatments and support patients. She is a national speaker at scientific conferences, patient forums and legislative bodies, stressing our ability to eradicate these cancers in our lifetime. Justine’s work has earned her multiple recognitions and awards, including the Biden Cancer Initiative’s inaugural Exemplary Leadership (LEAP) Award for her transformative impact on the lives of cancer patients. Her background is in public policy, having served as Chief of Staff to a New York City Council Member. In this capacity, Justine led legislative, budget, and community initiatives. She is a lifelong New Yorker, a graduate of Wesleyan University and a Milken Scholar.
*Published in the 2025 Alumnae Bulletin
Reflecting on your time at Chapin, what has the School come to mean to you now? What memories or experiences do you think of often or have influenced your life in some way?
My years at Chapin were a gift. Even now the warmth of the teachers and administrators stays with me. I took from my time there many things. Among them, a love of learning and literature, high expectations for myself and others, and a commitment to integrity and truth. At Chapin, the teachers and administrators believed in me. I knew that they were rooting for my success, even (or especially) as they pushed me. When I asked a teacher or administrator for support, they said yes. Years after graduating, Chapin still offers me that same warmth and sense of connection.
Can you talk about how your trust in yourself to follow your interests and strengths has guided your career?
I believe that problems are solvable, but we must actively participate in their resolution. Before starting my organization, I worked for a New York City elected official, and in my work, I would see issues move towards solutions. When I shifted my focus from improving city life to saving lives, I knew that I had the skills to be effective in this new field and drew on the same playbook to shape my decision-making and direction. Attention to detail, rooting complex issues in individual stories, my belief that change is possible even when slow, confidence that others want to come to a solution, coalition-building, integrity in my own beliefs and the truth — I continue to carry these core values and skills, many of which were bolstered at Chapin, with me throughout my career.
What was your motivation to build and launch your non-profit? What was that process like?
My brother, sister, and I started the Anal Cancer Foundation after losing our brilliant, joyful and amazing mother to anal cancer in 2010. We served as her caregivers throughout her fight; she was only 53 when she died.
We could not forget about how alone we felt or how few treatment options were available to her. Our answer was to start the Anal Cancer Foundation and NOMAN Campaign organizations with inter-related missions: to end anal cancer and improve the lives of those affected by it. We raise awareness, fund groundbreaking research, advocate for prevention and empower and support patients.
The NOMAN Campaign takes this mission to the global scale. We discovered during my mom’s journey that the virus that caused her cancer, the human papillomavirus, or HPV, causes at least six cancers, the most well-known of which is cervical cancer. In all, we learned that HPV causes 5% of the world’s cancers in men and women and is preventable with a vaccine. The NOMAN Campaign leads global advocacy efforts to ensure equal access to the HPV vaccine for males and females.
What did you find most challenging and most rewarding?
When our mom was diagnosed, there was little support for us outside of her medical team — no resources, organizations, novel treatments or research. We found one link online that had the words anal cancer. Institutions were terrified to talk about HPV, which limited research and patient support.
We were told that starting an organization to address these gaps was a “nice idea," but too difficult. Yet, for us, this was an incredibly solvable problem. Human ingenuity had already given us a cancer-preventing vaccine. We knew the patient and caregiver experience could be better.
The wonderful news is that the landscape has changed. Anal cancer and HPV are now recognized by cancer institutions and agencies. Countries have campaigns that target ending HPV and its cancers. We have made significant progress on advancing a screening protocol for anal cancer. Immunotherapy is now part of the treatment paradigm for advanced cancer. When I look at the progress we’ve made, it supports my belief that we can end these cancers in my lifetime.
In the course of your work with the Foundation, what are some accomplishments you feel most proud of?
When we started the organization, we had incredible optimism that we could fundamentally change this experience for families and make strides towards ending the disease — and we have! We helped fund the first ever immunotherapy for anal cancer, the first anal cancer medical society, the first anal cancer patient treatment guide, the first anal cancer patient scientific conference, the first peer-to-peer support program exclusively for anal cancer patients and their caregivers. We successfully fought for boys to have equal access as girls to the cancer-preventing HPV vaccine. This has occurred in the U.S. and U.K. and we are currently working towards that goal in Europe. While there is so much more to do, the experience is different for a person diagnosed today than it was for my mom. We have achieved these changes with the support of many, and I am grateful to all the patients, families, scientists, advocates, friends and supporters who made it possible.
How does it feel to receive recognition for all of the work you’ve done in the last 12+ years through accolades like the LEAP Award? In what other ways do you see your work make an impact?
The former Surgeon General Vivek Murphy has spoken extensively about how human connection is as essential for survival as food and water, especially when facing a medical condition. In the beginning of our organization, anal cancer and HPV were so stigmatized, people would not publicly share their stories. Asking people to move outside of their own experience and connect through sharing one’s story can be a radical act. One way that we honor my mom’s legacy is by providing opportunities for patients and caregivers to connect with each other and to lift up the experience of anal cancer publicly. We have an ongoing public catalog of experiences, and we offer one-to-one peer matching for anal cancer patients and their caregivers. It is an honor when someone entrusts me with their story, whether they want it to remain private or shared widely. It is my hope that every time my organization is elevated, more people see that having anal cancer and HPV are part of the human condition. For everyone personally affected, we want them to know they are not alone. Every person fighting this disease is worthy of being seen, and we are fighting for them.
You recently visited Chapin and spoke with current Class 7 students about your work. Do you frequently take part in events like these? What does a typical day or week look like for you?
I speak with groups frequently and it was such a special experience to come back to Chapin. It was an honor to be with these impressive young women! They were thoughtful, inquisitive, joyful, and open. I loved the curiosity and confidence in their questions.
I speak often at scientific conferences and have had the opportunity to speak at congressional and White House events. A typical week for me may include helping patients and caregivers access care, brainstorming with fellow advocates on policy, meeting with my team to envision how to grow our capacity to advance our mission, liaising with the scientists we work with and the day-to-day tasks that come with managing an organization.
What advice would you give to current Chapin students or alums who may be interested in pursuing a career in advocacy, public policy or a related field? How might you consider yourself a role model for young people?
Chapin is a safe space for risk-taking, so do it now! The leadership roles I took on at Chapin in SOS and other clubs honed my skills for leading in bigger spaces later.
Use the Chapin Alumnae network. I’ve used it to hire interns and speak with interested students. I am always available to speak to anyone who wants to start a nonprofit or is interested in public policy.
In your careers, find intelligent and capable people you believe in and find a way to work for them. The wonderful thing about public policy is that it’s easy to find mission-driven colleagues. I am a product of the people who have invested in me, and it is wonderful to pay that forward by guiding and celebrating my younger colleagues in their careers.
In what ways do you feel that your time at Chapin prepared you for life and your career?
I entered Chapin in Upper School and remain deeply grateful for the education I received there. Chapin provided structure, intellectual rigor and room to grow. I learned to build and dissect arguments, contextualize history and write (a lot!). I also built deep mentor relationships and practiced self-advocacy and leadership.
Chapin deepened my curiosity and sharpened my ability to think deeply and critically. I pull from Ms. Hirsch’s AP Bio class when I attend scientific conferences and translate complex medical information into accessible language for the populations I serve. On stage, Ms. Klotz would tell us “Dare to fail gloriously,” a motto I embraced years later when launching my organization. From Ms. Bloom’s passion for the geopolitical legacy of Otto Von Bismark to Senora De Toledo’s warm embrace of taking risks in language, my teachers' subjects were alive to them and, therefore, alive to me.
Outside of the amazing advocacy that you do with your Foundation, what do you do to decompress, relax or just for fun?
I love spending time with my family. As a New Yorker, I am a devotee of a good walk, especially with a friend. Baking desserts is a favorite activity, as well as meditation. And, of course, a meal with my close friends from Chapin is always wonderful.