[1][2] After graduating from the National Cathedral School in 1978, Kennedy worked on her father's 1980 presidential campaign before matriculating at Tufts University.

One of Kennedy's best known projects was a film she produced on Chris Burke, the actor with Down syndrome who starred in the television series Life Goes On.

[2] Initially told the disease was inoperable, she found—with her father's help—a surgeon at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who was willing to remove part of her right lung in an effort to save her life.

[6] On August 12, 2009, Kennedy accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama on behalf of her father at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

[9] Kennedy revealed her close relationship with her father, and the role he played in helping her to wage her battle against lung cancer.

On September 16, 2011, two years after her father's death, Kennedy suffered a fatal heart attack in a Washington, D.C., health club after her daily workout.