When Deanna Bellandi’s mom was treated for lung cancer by University of Illinois Cancer Center members, the compassionate evidence-based care she received made a lasting impression on Bellandi.
Now Bellandi, who earned her MPH at the University of Illinois Chicago, is the Cancer Center’s new Director of Marketing and Communications, a job that honors her late mom and draws on Bellandi’s work in media relations and journalism.
Before joining the Cancer Center this month, Bellandi directed media relations for JAMA and the other 12 JAMA Network journals, during her 11 years at the American Medical Association in Chicago. Before that, she worked for 21 years as a journalist at newspapers in Florida and the Associated Press, where she covered politics in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois. A graduate of Northwestern University, Bellandi was born and raised in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood. She currently lives in the South Loop with her wife, two stepsons and two dogs.
“I am thrilled for the opportunity to promote the research and work of the University of Illinois Cancer Center with its mission to explore and understand the intersecting issues that trigger cancer – biology, race, ethnicity, gender, age, environment, geography, lifestyle, and socioeconomic status – so that individualized approaches to better prevent and treat cancer can be discovered and ensure long-term wellness after cancer,” Bellandi said.