Debra Black

Debra Black is co-founder and chair of the board of directors of the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA), a non-profit foundation that works under the auspices of the Milken Institute. Mrs. Black and her husband, Leon, founded MRA in 2007 after she was diagnosed with Stage II melanoma, establishing the largest non-profit funder of melanoma research worldwide. Since then, MRA has funded more than $101 million and leveraged an additional $101 million towards its mission to find a cure for melanoma by accelerating transformative advances in research through strategic investment.

As a Broadway producer, Mrs. Black has won Tony Awards for her productions of “The History Boys” and “August: Osage County.”

Mrs. Black holds a B.A. in English from Barnard College. She is on the boards of Rockefeller University and the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and previously served as vice chair for The New York State Council on the Arts and on the boards of Lincoln Center Theater and The Public Theater.

She resides in New York with her husband and they have four children. Debra and Leon support numerous cultural and medical institutions in New York and throughout the United States, and are avid art collectors.