Susan’s Story

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While the world knew Susan Wojcicki as a visionary leader and CEO of YouTube, to her family, she was a devoted mother to five wonderful children, a loving wife, sister, daughter, and a dear friend.

In 2022, healthy and with no known risk factors, Susan was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer.

A lifelong problem-solver, Susan immediately sprang into action, and what started as personal urgency grew to become a shared effort to change the status quo.

Thinking Big From the Start

Growing up with her two sisters and surrounded by a supportive community, Susan knew from a young age she wanted to do something that made the world a better place.

She believed that curiosity, courage, and commitment could overcome any challenge, and that progress comes from investing fully in bold ideas and the people behind them.

Betting on Bold Ideas

In 1998, Susan took a chance on two Stanford graduate students, renting her garage to serve as Google’s first headquarters. She joined Google less than a year later as the company’s 16th employee and first marketing manager, and went on to become Google’s senior vice president of advertising and commerce and the visionary behind systems that revolutionized and democratized online advertising.

Throughout her career, Susan was a fierce advocate for women and other underrepresented groups. As the first employee at Google to take maternity leave—just four months after joining the company—she went on to become a prominent advocate for paid parental leave in the tech industry and beyond.

A Champion of Possibility

In 2006, Susan saw the immense potential of user-generated video and was the driving force behind Google's decision to acquire YouTube. As YouTube's CEO for nearly a decade starting in 2014, she transformed the platform into a global community of over 2 billion people.

Guided by her mission to "give everyone a voice and show them the world," Susan empowered a new generation of creators from all backgrounds to share their stories and build livelihoods.

An Unexpected Diagnosis

In 2022, Susan received an unexpected and devastating diagnosis of lung cancer. It came without warning. She was 54 years old and an active runner, with no smoking history and no respiratory symptoms.

Susan did next what she had always done: she asked questions. Why did this disease affect women more than men? What are risk factors beyond smoking? Why is it so hard to treat when found at a late stage? And what would it take to change that?

From Personal Urgency to Collective Action

As Susan learned more about lung cancer, a pattern became clear: detection frequently comes too late, screening recommendations lag behind science, and outdated assumptions shape who received care.

She began convening researchers, clinicians, technologists, and advocates to advance our understanding of why lung cancer occurs and who is truly at risk.

In just two years, Susan helped catalyze a broad research portfolio spanning immunotherapy, targeted therapies, cancer vaccines, and the biological and environmental drivers of lung cancer. Her initiatives included:

Working closely with researchers and partners to support more than 20 projects

Collaborating across 14 institutions

Assessing innovative interventions in two early-stage clinical trials

Establishing the Lung Cancer Genetics Study

Turning Purpose Into Progress

Susan passed away from lung cancer in 2024 at the age of 56, leaving behind an enduring legacy of curiosity, thinking big, and championing possibility.

The Susan Wojcicki Foundation carries forward Susan's dedication to making the world a better place. Guided by the belief that no one should lose a loved one to lung cancer, we're on a mission to save lives by transforming early detection and prevention with breakthrough research, technology, and education.

"People are capable of extraordinary things when given the opportunity."

Susan Wojcicki