Cancer Center Leader Honored

Frances Preston, music industry icon and charter member of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center’s Board of Overseers, has been awarded the Leadership Music Dale Franklin Award for 2007. During an event at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville Preston was honored for her leadership and dedication to the music industry during her long career as former president and CEO of Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI).

Singer and songwriter Vince Gill hosted the gala which was attended by well-known entertainers as well as leaders in business, politics and medicine. Video tributes were given by Clive Davis, Dolly Parton, Big & Rich and Al Gore. Retired from BMI, Preston continues her role as a music industry consultant in addition to advocacy for cancer research. She is president of the T.J. Martell Foundation which raises funds for cancer research. Much of the work of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center is housed in the Frances Williams Preston Research Building, including a Martell Foundation-funded research lab named in her honor.