Rachael Drazan-Malmberg
Rachael is a leading advocate for Radon education, testing and remediation. In April of 2017 Rachael was diagnosed with Stage IV Lung Cancer with metastases in the brain and mediastinum lymph nodes. Rachael has always lived a healthy life style never smoking, so being diagnosed with Lung cancer at 31 was a major surprise. After diagnosis, searching for a cause she had her current and childhood homes tested for Radon. Both measured high, which is not uncommon in Minnesota.
Rachael grew up in a typical middle-class environment in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was a three sport athlete in soccer, Hockey and Lacrosse at Benilde St. Margaret’s high school lettering twelve times and receiving the schools Athena and President awards. Rachael went on to compete at the division I level in Ice Hockey at the University of Minnesota where she received numerous conference and national awards for hockey and scholastic achievements. From the time Rachael was in eighth grade she played with the US women’s ice hockey program competing with the U22 and Senior Women’s teams in several Four Nations Cups, and World Championships. She has competed all around the world from the US and Canada to Finland and China.
Rachael is a Lung Cancer survivor who has established a strong presence in driving change related to radon exposure over the last year. Rachael has worked with local media to help drive stronger legislation around Radon testing within schools to help protect the most vulnerable in our society, our children. In addition, Rachael has spent time in Washington DC meeting with legislators and asking for higher funding for the National Institute of Health (NIH) to research Lung cancer for early detection and development of a cure for this terminal disease which is the deadliest form of cancer in men and women. Recently, Minnesota passed bipartisan legislation to require schools to test for Radon.
In addition to Rachael’s athletic pursuits, she graduated with a double bachelor’s degree in early childhood and special education, and a double Master’s degree in early childhood and special education both from the University of Minnesota. After teaching for several years Rachael went back to school and received her MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management. She has worked in the health, and financial services industries in compliance and risk management. Rachael currently works in Ethics and Compliance Risk Management for Allianz Life of North America.
Rachael is married and the mother of a beautiful five year old daughter. In her spare time, she enjoys spending her family, exercising, coaching soccer and hockey, volunteering within the community, and advocating for lung cancer research.