At the end of 2022, I was diagnosed with lung cancer. I had almost no symptoms and was running a few miles a day at the time. I had never smoked so I was totally shocked with this diagnosis.
My life changed dramatically after that day. I decided to resign from my role as CEO of YouTube, to focus on my health and my family. I was able to live an almost normal life, thanks to modern medicine. I continued to serve on boards: Salesforce, Planet Labs and Waymo, as well as on nonprofit boards like Room to Read and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). But most of my time shifted to focus on cancer research.
Before my diagnosis, my husband and I had already been actively supporting cancer research and new technologies like genetic sequencing and data science, with the hope of shedding light on new cures. After my diagnosis, we stepped up our efforts as we quickly learned lung cancer was under researched and misunderstood. We have since given millions of dollars to support early detection research, new immunotherapy options that could cure cancer, building a community of genotyped patients to better understand the disease, and fundamental research to better understand the mechanisms and science behind the cancers.
