2014 Cannon Award Winner Greenspon Dedicated to Finding a Cure for Diabetes

The Mecklenburg Medical Alliance and Endowment is pleased to announce that Roslyn Greenspon is the 2014 winner of the James Gray Cannon Award. The Cannon Award was established in 1984, with the purpose of recognizing an individual who has demonstrated exceptional leadership, on a voluntary basis, toward the advancement of medical care and good health in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community.

Ms. Greenspon is the founder of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation (JDF) Charlotte Chapter, which she established in 1973. This was the first JDF chapter founded in the South and for many years, the only chapter between Miami and Washington, DC. Today the Charlotte chapter is now the Greater Western Carolinas Chapter and raises over 3.5 million annually to support research into finding a cure the disease.

Nominated by Laura Maciag, Executive Director of the Greater Western Carolinas Chapter, Greenspon started the local organization in the basement of her home with only a phone and a file cabinet and a never-ending list of families, corporations, and media contacts. She answered the phone, fielded every question and request, and personally talked to every frightened parent who called with concerns about the future of their recently diagnosed diabetic child.

The energy and passion of Ms. Greenspon and her volunteers created a support group that would witness the greatest changes in 40 years in the understanding of the disease and the treatment of children withe diabetes (T1D). In 1975, Greenspon was invited to testify before the National Commission on Diabetes Task Force. The work of this National Task Force resulted in a ground breaking Congressional Act that directed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop the Long Range Diabetes Plan.

Roslyn Greenspon served as President of the Charlotte Chapter from 1975-85, during which time she increased membership, enlarged the Board of Directors, created many supporting events, and obtained funding from an assortment of sources.

Among Greenspon’s many accomplishments, she has:

Represented the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation National Board of Directors (JDRF) as a speaker in the U.S. and  Canada.
Developed Benefactors for the Cure, which is a special funding arm for JDRF Chapters
Participated in television and radio interviews on behalf of the JDRF
Brought diabetes researchers to Charlotte for medical and public teaching seminars
In her honor, the Charlotte JDRF Chapter initiated the Roz Greenspon Community Service Award, which Ms. Greenspon has the privilege of presenting annually. In 2001, For her commitment to the fight against diabetes and her work in numerous other organizations, Roslyn Greenspon was recognized, in 2001, as a Charlotte Jewish Woman of Strength.