Dr. Camille T.C. Hammond, '97

*One of a collection of stories written about alumni for the Jepson School of Leadership Studies's 25th Anniversary

“I wanted to learn about how to take an idea or an inspiration and create something meaningful.”

Camille T.C. Hammond, ’97, has always been visionary. As a student at the University of Richmond, this drive motivated her to study at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies. Eight years after graduation, it was her and her husband’s own experience with infertility that sparked the idea to launch a foundation to help others still on the infertility journey.  

“Infertility rocked our foundation as a family and challenged everything we believed about our ability to change outcomes based on hard work and passion,” says Hammond. “The infertility experience taught us that we needed help and that we had to rely on others for support.”

Hammond and her husband decided to launch the Tinina Q. Cade Foundation to provide financial support and resources to families with infertility. They named the foundation in honor of Hammond’s mother, who carried and delivered their triplets — at the time the oldest woman to do so.

“As a Jepson student, I had already developed a curriculum and started a program for my senior project. So I knew that with hard work, support, and faith, I could take an idea and create a program,” says Hammond.

Two years after launching the Cade Foundation, Hammond, who earned her medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 2001 and her Masters of Public Health from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in 2003, made another leap. She left her position as Program Director of Cancer Survivorship Disparities at the University of Maryland School of Medicine to become the foundation’s CEO.

“At first I struggled to define what I was,” remembers Hammond. “I was a physician who didn’t practice medicine. After some time, however, I embraced my role as a resource and advocate and educator and the unique perspective I bring to this field as both a physician and a former infertility patient. I am someone who supports others who are still pursuing parenthood.”

Hammond, who says that she made many mistakes early on, no longer struggles to define herself. She is a leader. Her first book, The GUUD Book: About Infertility, was published in summer 2017. Hammond says that through the book, as well as her talks throughout the country, she hopes that families with infertility find encouragement and valuable resources.

“My ethics exposure made me feel that everyone deserves a chance to parent a child, regardless to their financial position,” says Hammond. “It also made me feel that everyone deserves to know about the different ways to become a parent regardless to whether they live in a rural or urban area and independent of their race, gender, or marital status, or any other demographic factor.”

The Cade Foundation has provided funding for 74 families, who now serve as “resources and ambassadors of hope” within their own communities and homes.

“They are all overcomers and are changing lives through their work,” says Hammond.