Out of Pain, Purpose.

How One Grandfather’s Journey Powers our Mission.

Bridge To A Cure Foundation

Bridge To A Cure Foundation Founder and President Robert (Bob) Martin understands the flaws in our healthcare system. He knows why cancer research is failing our children — so much so that just three new childhood cancer treatments have been developed in the past 40 years. His granddaughter, Clara, was stricken with a form of brain cancer at just 4 years old. In seeking a cure for her, he uncovered several serious shortfalls in America’s approach to childhood cancer research and treatment.

Bob collected insights from more than 120 cancer researchers and practitioners to learn what’s behind the absence of breakthroughs to cures: the absence of a national childhood cancer database, a clinical trial process designed for children, and appropriate funding.

Sadly, Clara passed away from the disease in 2017 at age six. Her courage and positive spirit continue to inspire Bob’s unique, multifaceted approach to accelerate the pace and success of cures for hundreds of thousands who suffer from childhood cancer. In 2017, he established Bridge To A Cure Foundation to help families touched by this terrible illness.

Download the 2021 Annual Report

Hear more about Bob Martin’s journey of discovery, disappointment, and determination.

We’re Modernizing Childhood Cancer Research,

Dedicated to Healthier, Happier Kids.

STAFF

Founder & President/Chair, Board of Directors

Robert Martin

Founder & President/Chairman, Board of Directors

Understanding, empathy, and courage. This combination of qualities is a driving force in Robert (Bob) Martin’s life. He enlists them daily in the service of Bridge To A Cure Foundation and has exemplified them in the young reader books he’s penned to inspire kids to chase their dreams and to help those who can’t.

Martin’s grandchildren are the motivation behind his drive — one he endeavors to ignite in other grandparents. His firsthand journey seeking solutions for his own granddaughter serves as catalyst for the change desperately needed to repair the shortcomings in our pediatric healthcare system.

With a background as a successful Fortune 500 company division president, he combines his personal passion with a real-world, results-oriented approach to nonprofit leadership.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Secretary, Board of Directors

Ken Asher

Secretary, Board of Directors

Ken Asher is a partner in the New York City-based law firm, Brown Rudnick LLP, where his practice includes tax matters and administration of private and public charities. He provides counsel and serves as member of the Bridge To A Cure Foundation board of directors and ten additional private and public charity boards.

Asher is a graduate of SUNY Buffalo and Harvard Law School.

Treasurer, Board of Directors

David Gibbons

Treasurer, Board of Directors

David Gibbons knows first-hand the suffering that childhood cancer inflicts. In the early 1980s Gibbons’ teenage son was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma. At the time, the cancer was considered 99% fatal. His son survived, but like many childhood cancer survivors, lives with residual health effects of treatment. Gibbon’s journey through the healthcare system seeking out the newest treatments available led to his interest in improving healthcare outcomes for children with cancer.

Gibbons is an international executive whose career spans leadership at a number of global businesses, including 28 years at 3M. He also served as president of Rubbermaid Home Products, and eventually took the helm at Rubbermaid Europe. Subsequent stints include membership on numerous public company Boards, as well as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Perrigo, a pharmaceutical company now based in Ireland, from 2000-2007, and as Chairman of the Board of Cott Corporation, a global manufacturer of private label beverages, from 2008-2017.

In addition to his role as a member of the Board of Directors at Bridge To A Cure, Gibbons has served recently as Chairman of the Board of Naples Children’s Education Foundation. He is currently a trustee of Southwest Florida Children’s Charities and member of the board of African Parks Foundation USA.

Gibbons graduated from Villanova University in 1965.

Member, Board of Directors

Tricia Martin

Member, Board of Directors

Tricia Martin, RLA, LEED AP, joined the Bridge To A Cure Board of Directors in 2020.

Martin is owner of WE Design, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based landscape architecture and urban design planning firm, and teacher of urban design at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. In 2017, Tricia’s six-year-old daughter Clara Ely passed away due to a form of brain cancer. This tragic event led to the establishment of Bridge To A Cure by Tricia’s father, Foundation President Robert Martin.

Tricia brings to the Board of Directors those qualities she applies daily in her profession — collaboration, community inclusion, advocacy, and the vision to create sustainable solutions for complex problems. And, as a parent who’s been touched by the tragedy of childhood cancer, she contributes a direct and profound perspective concerning the valiant efforts of America’s frontline healthcare workers and the troubling failures of its healthcare system.

Martin graduated with a BA in environmental studies from the University of Vermont and received her MLA from the University of Oregon.

Member, Board of Directors

Wendy Payton

Member, Board of Directors

Wendy is the director of communications at the Center for Data Driven Discovery in Biomedicine (D3b), part of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). There, she works to build awareness and support for collaborative data-sharing initiatives of Bridge To A Cure coalition partner Children's Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Kid's First portal, among others. Prior to this, Wendy served as executive director for Bridge To A Cure.

Having spent more than 25 years as an advertising agency owner and executive, Wendy applies healthcare branding acumen and marketing communications leadership to amplify the mission and progress of Bridge To A Cure Foundation, and to help shine the spotlight on the important work of its coalition partners. She is a tremendous advocate for children with cancer and their families.
She holds a BBA degree in marketing from Cleary University.

ADVISORY BOARD

The Bridge To A Cure Foundation Advisory Board is a panel of renowned healthcare practitioners and industry experts who help inform the organization’s strategies, priorities, and policies.

Rudi Dubois

Rudi Dubois

Advisor

Ira J. Dunkel, M.D.

Advisor

Henry S. Friedman, M.D.

Advisor

Lois Juliber

Advisor

Al Musella, DPM

Advisor

Carolyn Rogers

Advisor, CFRE, APR, CPRC

Gary Tapella

Advisor

Peter Tombros

Peter Tombros

Advisor

Corinne Wyard

Advisor