December marks Elizabeth “Betsy” Alexander’s ’98 PhD fifth year of being cancer free. The upbeat breast cancer survivor is an inspiration to most everyone she meets — and also to countless people she never met.

Alexander, an author and assistant professor of history at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, is a poster woman for the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s first national ad campaign for the Komen Race for the Cure® series. The ad has appeared in such prominent publications as Ladies Home Journal, O Magazine, Health Magazine, Prevention, More and Redbook. It has been running for about a year and will continue for another 12 months.

“The reception to the ad has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Komen spokeswoman Jill Smits. “It seems to really resonate, strike a chord with people because it is so personal and yet really positive in its messaging.”

When Komen officials were brainstorming for their first national campaign, they found a photo they really liked from one of the races. But they didn’t know the woman in the picture or if she was still a survivor. Plus the pic was in black and white – not color. Alexander’s daughter – Lauren Lawhon, who worked for Komen at the time – saw the picture and said it looked a lot like her mom.

“The people there said, ‘Well, would your mom do it?’ And she said, ‘Oh yeah, sure she would,” Alexander recalled.

One of the things that made Alexander appealing for the project was her hair – or lack of it. While most women get their hair back after finishing treatments, she did not. Alexander – who ultimately underwent three surgeries and almost 10 months of chemotherapy – has some hair, but it is very thin. Yet it’s something she takes in stride: “That’s just something I have to live with.” (She also developed some heart complications during treatment, but fortunately her heart is back to normal now.)

So Alexander got together with several other survivors and trekked to NorthPark Mall for a photo shoot, with the chosen shot featuring a group of women with Alexander in the center.

She downplays her role as the “face” of breast cancer survivors, admitting that the spotlight is a little embarrassing. “The important thing about it is the slogan they have used. It says that we can live without our hair. We can live without our breasts. But we cannot live without our hope for a cure,” she said. “It’s just a wonderful slogan. I thought that was just marvelous because I can live without my hair and I can live without my left breast. But I really want to do everything that I can to make sure that other women don’t have to do this. I have two daughters and a granddaughter, and I don’t want them to have to have breast cancer.”

Alexander is certainly doing her part. In addition to the ad, she is a regular participant in Race for the Cure® and she has done some speaking for Komen – and was even honored as one of the keynote speakers at the June national conference in Washington, D.C.

“And I do pretty much whatever they ask me to do,” Alexander added. “If they need something, I’ll do it.”