WINSTON ELY

Originally published by PR Newswire, November 20, 2025.

Bridge To A Cure Foundation announces the appointment of Winston Ely to its Board of Directors. Ely, a Brooklyn-based designer and developer, brings more than 30 years of experience in architecture, sustainable design, and community-focused development.

Ely is the Owner and Creative Director of WE Design and Founder of WE Develop, where he leads residential and mixed-use projects with an emphasis on thoughtful planning and environmental responsibility. He also serves as a Green Infrastructure Fellow for the Design Trust for Public Space, contributing expertise to efforts focused on improving stormwater management and water quality across New York City.

Ely’s appointment to the organization’s Board of Directors carries personal meaning. Bridge To A Cure Foundation was established in memory of his daughter, Clara Ely, whose life continues to inspire the organization’s mission to accelerate progress in childhood cancer research through data integration, collaboration, and innovation.

“Winston brings valuable perspective as both a parent and an experienced leader in systems-based problem-solving,” said Bob Martin, Founder and Chair of Bridge To A Cure Foundation. “His insight will support our efforts to expand collaboration and strengthen the infrastructure needed to advance more effective pediatric brain cancer research.”

As a member of the Board, Ely will support strategic planning and governance efforts that align with the foundation’s focus on driving scientific collaboration and improving outcomes for children facing brain cancer.

“I am honored to join the Board of Bridge To A Cure Foundation in Clara’s memory,” shared Ely. “I look forward to contributing to efforts that connect people, data, and ideas to help accelerate meaningful progress for children and families affected by cancer.”

Ely resides in Brooklyn with his wife, Tricia Martin, and their children, Keira and Yeimer. He holds a BA in Art and Environmental Design from the University of Vermont and a Master’s in Architecture from the University of Oregon.

About Bridge To A Cure Foundation

Bridge To A Cure Foundation is accelerating the pace of childhood cancer research by championing data integration, collaboration, and innovation. By breaking down silos and investing in platforms that connect researchers, clinicians, and families, the foundation strives to ensure that every child and family can benefit from the full power of science, technology, and shared knowledge. To learn more, visit BridgeToACure.org.

Top Minds Gather To Share Progress at CBTN Scientific Summit & Networking Meeting

Bridge To A Cure Foundation Founder Bob Martin flanked by Children’s Brain Tumor Network leaders Dr. Adam Resnick and Jena Lilly

This past September, Bridge To A Cure President Bob Martin and Executive Director Wendy Payton attended the 2022 Children’s Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) Scientific Summit & Network Meeting, where a worldwide collective of childhood brain tumor researchers, clinicians, and patient advocates gathered at the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC.

Three hundred research projects currently in process that would not be possible if not for the kind of ample data and resources provided by our partner CBTN. Through unprecedented utilization of technology, reinforcement of powerful collaborations, and a return to empathy in research, CBTN shared how their groundbreaking model is changing the trajectory of finding cures to childhood brain cancer for the better.

The Mission

Children’s Brain Tumor Network is an advocate for collaborative research with a focus on data optimization—to more effectively lead us to fulfilling our goal of cutting childhood cancer deaths 50% by 2030.

By now, it’s clear how Children’s Brain Tumor Network and Bridge To A Cure values and vision align in that, ultimately, both recognize the current model of how childhood brain cancer is being researched doesn’t work—and dedicated themselves to make a change.

Some key topics covered in the Scientific Summit that Bridge To A Cure believes break the mould and bring us closer than ever to realize our mission:

• Data Collection. The collection and storage of data samples from patients is crucial to speed up advancements as well as provide a way for children and their families to leave a legacy.
• Open Access. An ever-growing network of partnerships that align with Bridge To A Cure values through Children’s Brain Tumor Network allow for the most efficient pathway to discovery.
• Technology for Analysis. Technology and big data no longer have room to be overlooked in the medical research realm.

These three key points address some of the largest challenges that advocates for cures face in the medical research realm: trust and technology.

The delicate nature of a critical piece of discovery

“We can all learn from every child.”
-Greg Reaman, Incoming Director of the National Cancer Institute’s Childhood Cancer Data Initiative

One huge problem the brightest of researchers face every day is simply not having the data they need to make advancements in scientific discovery. Historically, patients and medical professionals weren’t aware that contributing biospecimens was possible. The collection of data has often been stored in databases that have limited access and inconsistent protocols for how the information is entered. In recent years, and through collaborative efforts with Bridge To A Cure Foundation allies, these perceptions are changing. As systems for timely collection are developed and technology for storing large amounts of data is innovated, the generous contribution from children and families to medical research is utilized in impactful ways. High levels of coordination happens to ensure samples remain viable for research. Through partnerships between foundations and institutes, and though awareness-raising initiatives, families are able to contribute to the advancement of finding cures to childhood brain cancer—and leave a legacy in their child’s name.

Breaking barriers through partnerships

At Bridge To A Cure, we recognize that the siloed, limited-access approach to research between competing institutions holds back the possibility of realizing cures for thousands of children afflicted with a horrific cancer diagnosis. Often, institutes compete because it impacts fundraising opportunities and prestige. A breakthrough that one institution discovers won’t be communicated and shared with others who might have the next key in how that discovery can be applied to therapies, or even cures, for childhood brain cancer. At the Scientific Summit, it was refreshing to see so many speakers from different institutes and research labs reaffirming exactly why we partnered our efforts with Children’s Brain Tumor Network in the first place.

“Sharing is caring,” was a theme touched on throughout the Summit.

It was an honor to connect with Children’s Brain Tumor Network leadership, Members from National Cancer Institute, various children’s hospitals, and research universities. People from all across the country came together to share findings in the current state of where childhood cancer is. This is what medical research should look like—prioritizing cures to save kid’s lives through sharing and collaboration.

Technologies’ growing presence in medical research

Ken Harris from Amazon Web Services (AWS Health) presented about technologies’ place within medical research. There is no longer room to overlook big data and modern technology in the medical research realm. The old model was one of conducting individual projects, one at a time, with little support. According to AWS, the capability of artificial intelligence and advanced analytics means mass amounts of high-quality data are readily available more than ever before. Big data in healthcare is not just advancing; adaptation is now required to keep up with research capabilities. Moving forward, training in bioinformatics will be readily available—meaning institutes and researchers will adapt to new departments that will foster further collaboration and efficiency.

After the Children’s Brain Tumor Network Scientific Summit, Bridge To A Cure is certain that our plan to focus on data collection, storage, and access, is the right one. By unifying technology, supporting an open-model scientific approach, and encouraging database adoption with our partners (and now supporting AI tools), we reaffirm our mission to reduce cancer deaths 50% by 2030.

For a list of all the speakers from the event, and to see some of the amazing sponsors of the Scientific Summit, click here.

This article shares with you the significance of data in developing childhood cancer research cures, and how that data is collected and shared with the scientific community.

The Data Bridge

The “bridge” in Bridge To A Cure Foundation is built from data — all different kinds of data that help the childhood cancer research community discover new cures. There are many data points to construct the bridge, but biospecimens — in this case, tumor tissue — are by far most important to building a robust data set.

Learning how cancer changes how our cells use DNA and RNA provides critical clues for researchers Seeking out these clues requires quality analysis of DNA and RNA molecules and genes.

Last fall, Bridge To A Cure Foundation partner Children’s Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) announced that it was awarded game-changing resources provided through a National Institutes of Health (NIH) program for their Project Accelerate initiative. And in our October 2021 blog “Bridge To A Cure Alliance Partner Awarded Critical Resource Support,” we shared how Project Accelerate promises to turbo-charge the search for childhood brain tumor cures by connecting researchers around the world to the data they desperately need to make new breakthroughs.

The CBTN Operations team has worked feverishly to extract the data from more than 7,000 biospecimens and is making it available to researchers worldwide because we believe a cure for childhood brain tumors exists in this data. Not only that, the data is linked to clinical data, medical models, and other specimens that can be used to provide personalized medicine for each individual child battling the disease. This type of precision medicine improves outcomes for kids. Project Accelerate is the culmination of ten years of work by CBTN to create the infrastructure and collaboration needed to accelerate cures.

CBTN will add this flood of information produced through Project Accelerate to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas, making it freely accessible to researchers worldwide by the end of the year.

The Data Journey

Project Accelerate is already underway. This transformational effort is painstaking and requires significant financial investment to see it through to usable data. There are several steps to extracting the precious information we need and delivering it in a form that scientists can use in their research:

Identify the sample. While all types of childhood brain tumors are included in this monumental effort, CBTN is focused first on tumors that most greatly impact a child’s quality of life. CBTN institution lab technicians identify individual tumor samples from among thousands housed in their biobank to ensure this priority.

Extract the DNA and RNA. Technicians extract sample DNA and RNA from the tumor tissue.

Code the data set. Each sample pulled from the tumor tissue is coded with its own tracking information so that it can be traced back to its origin.

Ship data set samples. The coded data set is shipped in a climate-controlled environment with care not to disturb the data sets as they are in transit to the Broad Institute, an MIT and Harvard University collaboration.

Characterize the data. At the Broad Institute, molecular characterization data is generated on each of the samples. They are looking for presence of certain genetic changes in tumor tissue, such as gene mutations or other changes in the DNA or RNA.

Catalog the data. The processed data is recorded by its code and the data set information is added to the CBTN Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas.

Distribute the data. Scientists and researchers can now access the additional data to look for patterns and anomalies that before would not have been possible to observe—promising new advancements toward cures.

When you give to Bridge To A Cure Foundation, you support this arduous bridge-building process now underway at CBTN with Project Accelerate. We need your help right now to uncover the clues — and the cures — we know are hidden in the data. Support Project Accelerate here.

Corinne Wyard

The Bridge To A Cure Foundation Board of Advisors serves as a resource for foundation executives and Board of Directors members to consult and gain advisor perspectives within their areas of expertise. In her new capacity, Wyard applies deep knowledge in strategic planning, organizational leadership and structure, personal effectiveness, team building, marketing, branding, and coaching in support of the charitable organization’s goals.

“Corinne is an invaluable addition to our Board of Advisors,” foundation Executive Director Wendy Payton stated. “Her business acumen, skill set, and compassion for children is matched by a fierce determination to help Bridge To A Cure unify and transform the cancer research community to reduce childhood cancer deaths 50% by 2030. We welcome the wisdom, experience, and qualities she offers to help us end childhood cancer – once and for all.”

About Bridge To A Cure Foundation

Bridge To A Cure Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, raises funds to unify and transform childhood cancer research. Dedicated to healthier, happier kids, the nonprofit’s action plan connects the people, information, and resources needed to accelerate life-saving cures for childhood cancer. For more information, visit BridgeToACure.org.

MEDIA CONTACT
Wendy Payton
wpayton@bridgetoacure.org
877-460-2873 x. 102

You may have increasingly heard the term personalized medicine used and wondered what it meant. Does it mean there is a treatment made just for you?

Not quite.

Let’s look at it in terms of childhood brain cancers. Bridge To A Cure Foundation stands with partner Children’s Brain Tumor Network. Their mission hits the mark:

The right diagnosis.
The right treatment.
For each child.

Finally, we appear to be moving from a one-size-fits-all treatment to a tailored, personalized approach for treating childhood brain tumors. Up until now, our children have received brain cancer treatments developed for adults, which can cause irreparable damage to their young bodies and minds.

Thanks to increases in funding, large amounts of shared data, and advances in our understanding of how both our bodies and diseases work, treatments can now be developed that are more effective and less harmful for our children. For us, too.

The bottom line? Personalized medicine promises to help our children live better and longer because they’ll receive treatments designed for their needs and bodies.

Why have treatments specifically for childhood brain tumors been so slow to develop?

Several reasons:

1. There are fewer mutations in kids’ genomes than those found in adults, making the cancer difficult to identify.
2. Childhood brain tumors are difficult to target with treatments.
3. Concerns about and risk of dosage and toxicity.
4. Childhood brain tumors are rare, making data scarce.
5. Brain tumors are complicated, with more than 100 different types.
6. There haven’t been enough samples, clinical data, etc., to conduct a study.

Now, these obstacles are steadily being overcome – conquered.

We have a more extensive database of biospecimens being shared – thanks in large part to Project Accelerate. Bridge To A Cure Foundation’s collaboration with Children’s Brain Tumor Network will lead to accelerated discoveries.

This decentralization of data has been vital, but to win the battle against childhood brain tumors, we need to have all institutions worldwide share their data.

The more biospecimens we have, along with additional funding for molecular analysis and sequencing, the more intelligent we can be about what works (and what doesn’t), and the more precise, personalized, and humane we can be with each treatment.

As we shared in previous communications, Project Accelerate will help prioritize the most aggressive tumor types, supporting research for those cancers lacking existing data.

Clinical Trials

In the pediatric space, clinical trials will start to hit the forefront. Rather than repurposing adult treatments and dosages, we’ll be able to develop specific therapies of specialized drugs for childhood brain tumors driven by the genetic and genomic characteristics present in young patients.

This is a big step.

The Race Act

Short for Research to Accelerate Cures and Equity for Children Act, the RACE Act went into effect on August 18, 2020, and significantly increased the number of required studies devoted to pediatric cancer research, drugs, and therapies.

The expectation is that the RACE Act will level the playing field for children with cancer.

Hope

What can we take from all this?

That there is hope!

Advancements are happening. The Bridge To A Cure network of alliances is receiving the attention it has needed, and we’re on the precipice of seeing a tremendous impact. These efforts will define better treatment vulnerabilities and lead to a multi-model approach for treatment.

We’re in an age of significant acceleration, where the use of adult treatments for childhood brain tumors will end.

Together

Bridge To A Cure will continue to help unite and transform our community with the help of innovative partners like Children’s Brain Tumor Network, and ensure that the data out there is available to all those working to find the cures we so desperately want.

We are more empowered, more enabled than ever before. And that feels like progress.

Click here to learn more about how Project Accelerate is advancing discoveries that can lead to cures for childhood brain tumors.

Transformative change requires a bold challenge.

“Unite Transform Cure” is the theme of our 2020 annual report (you can read it here). It reflects our commitment to speed up not only the search for effective treatments, but to actually end the scourge of childhood cancer.

Most doctors won’t use the word “cure” when discussing cancer, as there is yet no cure, although some treatments may be able to cure some people of some cancers.

We use the word “cure” as part of our theme because we know that an audacious goal requires an audacious challenge. Think of President John F. Kennedy’s challenge on Sept. 12. 1962: to land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth by the end of the decade. Would that goal have been achieved without a bold challenge that at the time seemed out of reach? Doubtful.

When it comes to childhood cancer, most medical professionals avoid talking about cures because they don’t want to spark “unrealistic” hopes. The fight against childhood cancer has gone on for so long, many people have given up hope they will live to see a cure.

It’s time to jump-start hope.

JFK spoke of the moon challenge as “one we are unwilling to postpone.” He said we accept such challenges “not because they are easy, but because they are hard,” and because they “serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.”

That’s what we seek to do as part of our mission to unite and transform the childhood cancer community’s approach to research. Our goal: to cut the childhood cancer death rate 50% by 2030.

To do that, we must demand more from the healthcare community, nonprofits, private industry, and our government. A key component of our action plan is to align and unite this diverse set of stakeholders toward this common goal.

We know this won’t be easy. We also know it is absolutely essential. We’ve heard the dreaded diagnosis and experienced the tragic journey of a 6-year-old girl bravely facing brain cancer, inspiring her family with hope to the end. We’ve felt the sense of helpless frustration watching a disease that has thwarted the best medical minds in the world take another young life, stalling hope again and again.

To win this fight will take a new approach. That’s why we’re working to transform a system that is built on competition to reap the benefits of collaboration. We serve as a lead catalyst for modernizing the nation’s approach to childhood cancer research, working with the healthcare community and childhood cancer foundations to fix a broken system.

In our first full year
operating as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization, we’ve supported the National Cancer Institute Childhood Cancer Database Initiative (CCDI). This year our goal is to be represented on the CCDI development commission to ensure that the database is optimized and that patient families are represented.

Bridge To A Cure Foundation acts as a catalyst to connect the people, information, and assets needed to propel new treatments and cures for childhood cancer.
We are building consensus around our unique, multifaceted approach with some of the country’s most well-respected voices in the childhood cancer community, including nonprofits, patient families, and the public.

From our founding in 2017, we have been focused on tearing down barriers to effective cancer treatments. Applying principles from the most successful private sector companies, we identified the need for the following:

• A robust database containing everything we know about childhood cancer.
• Streamlined clinical trials to speed the development of lifesaving treatments.
• Collaboration between government agencies, private companies, and key research institutions.

As the pandemic disrupted lives and consumed vast energy in our healthcare system, we have relentlessly kept our focus on the changes needed to beat childhood cancer. This includes working with America’s leading institutions to identify and understand the barriers they face.

We’ve collected input from Duke Cancer Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and other leading cancer centers. Our goal is to ensure that the changes we advocate serve those working to develop the most promising new treatments — those that may lead to cures.

We’ve worked in the past year to identify attributes of the most successful nonprofits. These include targeting a compelling problem; setting an audacious, inspirational and measurable goal and a timeline for accomplishing it; and collaborating with others working toward the same ends.

In the coming year and beyond we will continue forging relationships and partnerships with change-makers to align their resources, talents, initiatives, and expertise toward our unified goal of reducing the death rate of childhood cancer 50% by 2030. With the continued help of our engaged partners, donors, volunteers, and supporters, we will keep our eye on the prize: curing childhood cancer — once and for all.

As recession, debt, and declines in charitable giving jeopardize funding, we offer a new model to beat childhood cancer.

With the pandemic and recession reaping ongoing economic turmoil, organizations leading the fight against childhood cancer face funding shortfalls that threaten to set back efforts to find cures and effective treatments.

Even before the pandemic and recession, pediatric cancer was underfunded, despite the fact that cancer is the number one cause of death by disease among children. Only 4% of the billions of dollars the government spends annually on cancer research goes toward childhood cancer. Reasons funding for pediatric cancer research lags spending on adult cancers include:

• Childhood cancers are relatively rare compared to adult cancers, yet each year an estimated 15,780 American kids are diagnosed with cancer and another 1,800 die.
• Priorities for government funding and pharmaceutical investing are determined by the biggest bang for the buck, period. Children (ages 0-19) represent only 1% of new cases each year, or 4% if based on the life-years potentially saved.
• Childhood cancer does not get the same level of publicity as adult cancers, such as the pink ribbons that adorn so many products during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Did you know, for instance, that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month?

At Bridge To A Cure Foundation we are committed to revolutionizing how we fight childhood cancer, through building a comprehensive pediatric cancer database, boosting collaboration, and promoting our Millennial Organization model to increase investment in finding cures. But like so many charitable organizations, we face a funding crunch due to the pandemic and recession. The overall economic outlook is not reassuring.

Spending on the pandemic and other government programs is expected to result in a $7 trillion unbudgeted hit to the national debt, economists and wealth managers from top investment firms predict.[1] That includes $4 trillion in government spending to respond directly to the pandemic, more than $2 trillion in infrastructure spending, and declines in tax revenues of at least $500 billion.

The national debt is expect to rise to $32 trillion by the end of this year — 150 percent of GDP and almost twice what has historically been deemed “financially unstable.” Stabilizing our economy and reducing debt levels will be priorities for the next five years, if not longer. This is expected to result in significant tax increases on the wealthy and corporations.

As a result, the revenue that cancer foundations and research institutions have depended upon will decline sharply. Foundations are already reporting dramatic declines in giving. For instance:

• The American Cancer Society expects a $200 million shortfall due to pandemic, a funding gap that has forced it to cut an estimated 1,000 positions across the US.
• Economic damage from the pandemic is causing people to forgo donations and could devastate charities more than the Great Recession did, Michael J. Nathanson, former chairman of the National Brain Tumor Society, Cure GBM, and Pediatric Cancer Cure, predicts in a recent op-ed.
• Medical charities that have relied on in-person fundraising events have been hit hard by cancellations, with some having to take out loans through the government’s Paycheck Protection Program to stay afloat.
• The global health emergency has shut down scientific research labs across the country, leaving some scientists scrambling to save their work. It has also disrupted clinical trials and fundamentally altered “essential” cancer treatments. While some labs have started to reopen, the long-term effects on research are unknown.
• The pandemic has been “devastating to clinical trials,” delaying some and diverting funds earmarked for cancer R&D to COVID-related projects. About a quarter of the delayed trials involved cancer treatments, “interrupting the ability of patients to obtain treatment in clinical trials,” said Dr. Richard Schilsky, chief medical officer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
• The pandemic has created a nightmare scenario for children facing cancer and their families. Cancer patients who contract COVID-19 face a 16-fold increased mortality risk, according to a recent study.

The pandemic has diverted massive resources from the fight against cancer and is expected to continue to do so, researchers state in an editorial titled “The future of cancer research after COVID-19 pandemic: recession?”

“Many opportunities related to the development of new cancer drugs will be missed because of the redirection of funds for the study of SARS-CoV-2. In fact, a part of the governmental funds and resources of pharmaceutical companies that are dedicated to cancer therapies trials will be transferred to studies on COVID-19 detection, testing, treatment and vaccines.”

Dr. Ned Sharpless, director of the National Cancer Institute, predicts the pandemic could reverse the US streak in improved cancer mortality that’s lasted more than 25 years.

All of these factors will disproportionately affect prospects for funding research into curing childhood cancers, given the tiny fraction of total cancer funding that goes to pediatric cancer research.

Given the outlook for the economy, the pandemic, and research, foundations and charities devoted to fighting cancer, and pediatric cancer in particular, are bracing for dramatic declines in giving. The result will be cutbacks in existing research projects and lack of funding for potential breakthroughs. Worse, the hopes of cancer victims who have put their faith in science will be shattered.

From crisis and adversity often springs opportunity through new and better ideas. The model for Childhood Cancer Research advocated by the Bridge to a Cure Foundation does just that. In three years we have laid the groundwork to:

• Build a National Pediatric Cancer Database to allow researchers to access to all available information on the diseases, drugs and treatments, and to identify patterns that will help them prevent, diagnose, treat, and ultimately cure cancer.
• Boost Collaboration and Rethink Reward Systems to remove barriers to pediatric cancer research, including rewarding partnerships among teams, disciplines, and even companies and institutions by making teamwork a criteria for awarding grants.
• Tap Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to find new ways to attack disease and overcome barriers posed by the existing patchwork of data.
• Boost Investment to Find Cures for Childhood Cancer through our Millennial Organization, a new model for valuing companies based on their contributions to improving the human condition. Our goal is to encourage pharmaceutical and other corporations to invest in pediatric cancer initiatives previously considered unjustifiable. We are working to identify top business, medical and academic institutions to lead this initiative.

We’ve come too far to let the pandemic and its economic turmoil derail our efforts to beat the scourge of childhood cancer. With so many worthwhile organizations working to address humanitarian needs during the crisis, we ask you to consider Bridge To A Cure Foundation in your giving to help us keep hope alive for children and their families facing the darkest diagnoses. Learn how you can support our work at bridgetoacure.org/support, and thank you!

[1] Based on research and interviews with a UBS Economist, Strategist Wealth Management executive, and other wealth managers from other investment firms.

Bill Gates + Bridge to a Cure = Path Forward

In Bill Gates’ 2015 TED Talk titled “The next outbreak? We’re not ready,” Bill warned that we were woefully unprepared to deal with the threat of a pandemic. He was right.

In the Bridge to a Cure Foundation’s March 2017 release, we identified the five barriers contributing to the unacceptably slow development of pediatric cancer treatments and cures.  The same is true for infectious diseases.

Globally the coronavirus has infected millions, killed hundreds of thousands, and decimated national economies and the lives of many families. Bottom line: we weren’t prepared. The next time — and there will be a next time — we must be ready. The Path Forward is now and here’s how we should implement it:

• Develop the response plan proposed by Bill Gates and be ready to implement it to identify infectious disease outbreaks early: Gates proposed we look at how the military prepares for war and use that as a model to prepare for the net pandemic. This includes having trained “soldiers” ready to deploy, reserves we can scale up rapidly, and war games-like training simulations. “Those are the kinds of things we need to deal with an epidemic,” Gates said.
• Ensure that the required numbers of trained human resources are prepared to deploy: This includes epidemiologists ready to study the disease and identify how far it has spread, along with medical teams trained and ready to treat patients. Using the Ebola outbreak as an example, Gates noted we were unprepared in these areas and warned: “A large epidemic would require us to have hundreds of thousands of workers.”
• Advance preparedness for clinical research to combat pandemics: Speaking of our lack of preparedness for Ebola, Gates said, “There was no one there to look at treatment approaches. No one to look at the diagnostics. No one to figure out what tools should be used. As an example, we could have taken the blood of survivors, processed it, and put that plasma back in people to protect them. But that was never tried.” In an article titled “Advancing Preparedness for Clinical Research During Infectious Disease Epidemics,” the authors state: “Clinical research is vital for an effective response to infectious disease epidemics. To be viable, preparations must be made in anticipation of infectious disease epidemics and must address barriers to rapid deployment and implementation.”

To meet these challenges we should follow the same approach developed by the Bridge to a Cure Foundation to modernize pediatric cancer research by unleashing resources already available today. Measures we propose include:

• Develop a robust national database for each microbial threat: As the article notes, “In many instances the point at which an epidemic occurs is the only time to gather data and generate new knowledge regarding disease characterization, prevention, and treatment. Experience from previous epidemics highlights how time and again, the research response is delayed and the narrow window of opportunity for enrolling patients during peak epidemic waves is missed.” We must provide a process and framework to capture the hundreds of millions of pages of research, medical files, and the science behind every treatment, drug and alternative medicine so that this data is available in advance of the next pandemic. To learn more, read our Sept. 24, 2019 blog Dying in the Dark and the April 15, 2019 blog Stop Pediatric Cancer Like We do Terrorists.
• Include alternative medicine/treatments: Develop a methodology to evaluate/approve alternative medicines/treatments. To learn more, read our May 29, 2018 blog Breaking Down Barriers, Bridging to A Cure.
• Capitalize on the proven capability of artificial intelligence: Research institutions have been slow to embrace this technology, trusting more in the mind of the researcher alone. Once a robust national infectious disease database is developed, we need to provide the methodologies and tools for researchers to extract meaningful findings. There are computers that can read and review hundreds of millions of scientific pages in seconds. Algorithms can be written to discover, analyze and predict from the data a robust global database would provide. To learn more, read our Feb. 15, 2019 blog Putting the Pieces Together for the Fight Against Cancer.
• Simplify, sensitize, and modernize the clinical trial process by speeding up and reducing complexity. Some ways to do this include pursuing simulated research, balancing life expectancy and quality of life, and including exemptions to allow terminal patients to participate in trials of experimental drugs. To learn more, read our Jan. 31, 2020 blog Solving the Clinical Trial Debacle and the July 25, 2019 blog The National Cancer Institute Knows How to Cure Pediatric Cancer.
• Align and collaborate across institutions and practitioners: Develop a reward and recognition system unique to infectious disease research — one that reinforces a culture of collaboration and spans across and within nations, institutions, governments and sectors. The article referenced above states, “There are multiple challenges to building equitable and mutually supportive partnerships. These include unequal access to funding, academic reward systems that incentivize competition over cooperation, silo-thinking reinforced by (artificial) disciplinary boundaries and commonly held assumptions regarding mutual capacities or needs. Fragmentation and competition among stakeholder groups, research initiatives, and disciplines represent a lost opportunity for shared expertise and learning, and to strengthen global, national, and regional research preparedness.” To learn more, read our Nov. 25, 2019 blog Why Reward Systems are Barriers to Pediatric Research Breakthroughs & How to Fix it.

We are at a moment in history where it is time to acknowledge the flaws in our approach to medical research and treatments, and how we respond to pandemics. Overcoming the barriers identified above is a good place to start. But that alone isn’t enough. We need a holistic strategic approach that engages participation from the medical community; pharmaceutical and technology companies; investment and investor communities; nonprofits/foundations and donors; and military, state, and local officials and government agencies.

It is time to recognize and value institutions and corporations for their contribution to the global good. The mantra of maximizing shareholder value alone is insufficient. Corporations should do more to better mankind — and they should be rewarded for it. In our May 2019 blog, we introduced the Millennial Organization. It revolutionizes the criteria for valuing organizations. The blog provides detailed evidence to support that the time has come for the Millennial Corporation — the organization whose stock value reflects not only sustainable profit growth but also its contributions to improving the human condition. Now is the time for the investment community and pharmaceutical industry to redefine the matrices for valuing this industry. Investing in childhood cancer would be a good place to start. To learn more, read our May 28, 2019 blog The Cure to Pediatric Cancer is at Our Fingertips.

The coronavirus outbreak is teaching us the importance of an “ounce of prevention.”

With the worldwide spread of coronavirus, we are all being asked to do our part to stop its spread. Washing hands, maintaining social distance, and staying home if you are sick are things we can all do to preempt COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by coronavirus.

Much has been written about how COVID-19 largely spares children. However, families of children with cancer know that any infection, including this new one, can weaken their child’s defense system.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic and all we are being asked to do to stop it, we should not lose sight of the fact that cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease among children and adolescents, and the third leading cause of childhood death overall.

The exact cause of childhood cancer remains unknown; however, researchers believe it is most likely caused by a combination of genetic, environmental, and immune system factors. In today’s blog we examine some of these factors and what we should be doing to prevent more kids from developing cancer.

Risk factors for childhood cancer remain poorly understood for several reasons. For example, most children with leukemia don’t have any known risk factors, and many children who are affected by risk factors don’t develop cancer.

Nevertheless, we know that there are many factors that increase the risk a child will develop cancer. These include prenatal problems, exposure to infections and radiation, and genetic factors. Here is what we know about some of the risk factors, and recommendations for preventative measures we can take to preempt them:

Genetic Risk Factors

Cancer is a genetic disease, caused by certain changes to genes that control the way cells function, especially how they grow, divide and mutate. Genetic changes that promote cancer can be inherited from parents if the changes are present in reproductive cells. Inherited genetic mutations play a major role in about 5-10% of all cancers, according to the National Cancer Institutes.

“Genetic changes that cause cancer can also be acquired during one’s lifetime, as the result of errors that occur as cells divide or from exposure to carcinogenic substances that damage DNA, such as certain chemicals in tobacco smoke, and radiation, such as ultraviolet rays from the sun,” NCI states.

How We Can Preempt Genetic Risks

Genetic tests for hereditary cancer syndromes can determine if a person from a family that shows signs of such a syndrome has one of these mutations, NCI says. These tests can also show whether family members without obvious disease have inherited the same mutation as a family member who carries a cancer-associated mutation.

The World Health Organization classifies four different groups of external agents as carcinogens that cause cancer in children: physical, biological, chemical carcinogens, and dietary components such as cured meats. Limiting or preventing children’s exposure to highly processed foods, tobacco smoke, and environmental toxins such as pesticides, solvents, and household chemicals can help to preempt genetic risks.

Infectious Risk Factors

Certain infectious agents, including viruses, bacteria, and parasites, can cause cancer or increase the risk it will develop, NCI states. Some viruses can disrupt signaling that normally keeps cell growth and proliferation in check. Some infections weaken the immune system, making the body less able to fight off other cancer-causing infections. And some viruses, bacteria, and parasites cause chronic inflammation, which may lead to cancer.

Epstein-Barr virus and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, have been linked to an increased risk of childhood cancers, including Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to Stanford Children’s Health. Hodgkin lymphoma accounts for 4-6% of all childhood cancers, with the highest incidence rates in ages 15-19, while non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) account for 6-7% of all childhood malignancies, according to NCI.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) are the two most frequent types of leukemia in children. In a Kazakh study titled “Childhood cancers: what is a possible role of infectious agents?” researchers propose two possible models to explain how infectious agents could play a role in the development of childhood leukemia — either by directly transforming cells, or by secondary genetic or immunological alterations caused by abnormal immunological responses to congenital, neonatal, or post-neonatal infections. These can act as a “triggering mechanism” for leukemia and possibly other types of cancer, the study states.

How We Can Preempt Infectious Risks

Many infectious agents can be controlled by treatment and/or vaccination. For instance, using immune globulins during pregnancy and after birth has been shown to boost the protective effect against some herpes viruses linked with childhood cancer. Vaccines may also protect against mother-to-child transmission of infections, the Kazakh study notes. This includes sanitation measures to prevent infections during pregnancy and early childhood, as well as in healthcare institutions.

Not surprisingly, many standard measures now recommended to prevent the spread of coronavirus are important for preventing infections that are risk factors for childhood cancer, or can exacerbate illness in young people battling cancer.

Immune and Protective System Risk Factors

The immune system helps protect against cancer in three ways: It detects “nonself” antigens from pathogens or infected/malignant cells; specifically targets and destroys pathogen or infected/malignant cells while protecting the host; and develops “immunological memory” allowing it to adapt immune responses and defend against attacks.
“This multifaceted mechanism consists of the three primary phases: elimination, equilibrium, and escape, that contribute to cancer elimination, dormancy, and progression, respectively,” states one NCI study. “Interestingly, this ability of cancers to evade or escape the immune response is now recognized to be one of the most distinguished cancer hallmarks, which provides the platform for treatments within the context of immunotherapies.”

How We Can Preempt Immune System Risk Factors

Boosting research into immunotherapy is one of the most promising areas of Bridge to a Cure’s work to support building a National Pediatric Cancer Database. Building the database will also allow us speed up research into how cancer cells are able to evade apoptosis (programmed cell death), and to target angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels that feed tumor growth.

Just like with coronavirus, there are things we can all do to help boost our children’s immunity and our own, including maintaining healthy diets, immunizations, regular exercise and medical exams, and of course, frequent hand-washing. As our nation copes with the unprecedented coronavirus epidemic, Bridge to a Cure will continue the fight to tear down the five deadly barriers against finding a cure, and to make a national database a priority.

Childhood Cancer Facts

• The incidence of childhood cancer is on the increase, averaging 0.6% increase per year since the mid-1970s, resulting in an overall increase of 24% over the last 40 years.(1)
• 1 in 285 children was diagnosed with cancer in 2014.(1)
• 43 children per day or 15,780 children per year are expected to be diagnosed in with cancer (10,450 ages 0 to 14, and 5,330 ages 15 to 19). (1)
• The average age at diagnosis is 8 overall (ages 0 to 19), 5 years old for children (aged 0 to 14), and 17 years old for adolescents (aged 15 to 19) (9), while adults’ average age for cancer diagnosis is 65.(7a)
• Childhood cancer is not one disease — there are more than 12 major types of pediatric cancers and over 100 subtypes.(1)

Source: https://cac2.org

The mission of the Bridge to a Cure Foundation is to increase the pace and success of childhood cancer research. In order to do that, we need to remove barriers to finding cures and effective treatments.

In our last blog, we explored why the clinical trial process is one such barrier, including the fact that few new drugs have been developed for treating children with cancer, and that the few drugs that have been developed have not resulted in cures, but have been appallingly harmful. In this blog we examine some possible solutions.

Acknowledgement of the problem and its cause

Rectifying persistent unsolved problems begins with the acknowledgement that there is a problem, and agreement as to the root cause of the problem. Our prior blog provided evidence that:

• Our childhood clinical trial approach is a serious problem.
• We know the root causes contributing to the problem.
• Those participating in the clinical trial process are aware of the magnitude of the problem and its causes.

Why it has not been resolved

If the medical community knows this, why hasn’t the problem been resolved? There are three overarching reasons:

1. Methodology – It relies on a problem/solution approach whereas what is needed is a process improvement approach.
2. Money – The population of children with cancer is too small for pharmaceutical companies to invest in. Funding for clinical trials is not typically covered by federal grants, and federal laws meant to encourage drug companies to invest in pediatric clinical trials have not been very effective, according to an article titled “Drug Discovery: A Challenge for Pediatric Cancers,” published by Johns Hopkins Medicine. Bottom line, the money isn’t there. “We are completely at the mercy of the drug company as to whether or not it will provide the drug for this study,” pediatric cancer expert Dr. Patrick Brown says in the article. “If it says no, which is the most likely answer, the study doesn’t happen.” This has hindered the efforts of the Children’s Oncology Group, a collaborative of oncologists from 220 institutes that does most large clinical trials.
3. Matriculation – The investment, government and nonprofit communities are not fully immersed as critical components in an effort to fix our approach to childhood clinical trials.

The solution

The following proposed solutions would hopefully encourage the medical, investment, government and nonprofit communities to make fixing the childhood clinical trial process a shared priority, with a clearly stated mission, strategy, and plan.

Methodology
1. Set vigorous performance standards. There are two problems with the current performance metric of extending a child’s life five years:

• It assumes that extending a child’s life by five years justifies the pain and hardships faced by the child and family. This measurement needs to be revisited. A robust analysis that measures the benefit vs. the risks (pain, financial burden, psychological impact, quality of life) is long overdue.
• It encourages the same past practices that have produced too few breakthrough cures and treatments. We need to set standards that will require greater collaboration and the expanded use of machine technology.

2. Capitalize on the enormous potential of existing and emerging technology:

• Today, laboratory analysis of a child’s cancer is limited to the few samples available from the tumor. Simulating the child’s tumor in the laboratory will provide an unlimited ability to analyze and test treatments. The Broad Institute has had some success and we need to invest more in this.
• The population of children with cancer, as is true for many other childhood diseases and disorders, is too small to benefit from the analytical power of artificial intelligence (AI). Without AI, the treatment and cure possibilities are limited. To address this problem, we need to invest money and minds to establish a dynamic methodology to translate the results from adult clinical trials to inform childhood treatments and cures. This would be a singular funded initiative focused only on this goal.

3. Implement reward and recognition programs that:

• Foster collaboration within and across institutions and industries.
• Include objectives designed specifically to improve the clinical trial process.
• Are linked to a more vigorous performance standard.

Both behavior and performance are most influenced by goal expectations. If we want greater collaboration and more effective/compassionate treatment solutions, the performance goals need to clearly articulate what’s expected.

Money
We will need more than just a fresh approach to generate the funds required to finance the testing of potential cancer cures for our children. In our May 2019 blog we introduced the Millennial Organization to do just that. It revolutionizes the criteria for valuing organizations. The blog provides detailed evidence to support that the time has come for the Millennial Corporation – the organization whose stock value reflects not only sustainable profit growth but also its contributions to improving the human condition. Some reasons we cited to justify this approach include:

• Investors want it: Individuals everywhere are concerned about our country, the world, its people and the environment. The horrors of pediatric cancer are at the top of the list of concerns for many Americans. “For these and other reasons, more people are investing their money to get back more than just a monetary return on their investment. Many are investing to make a positive impact in our country and around the world as well as to feel that societal concerns should be made an important part of their investment focus.” (1)
• Investment companies want it: “Our global goal is to develop a comprehensive, industry-leading platform of research, advice, and products that is dedicated to sustainable investing and philanthropy.” (2)
• It’s already happening: “Over the last two years, SRI (Socially Responsible Investing) has grown by more than 22% to $3.74 trillion in total managed assets, suggesting that investors are investing with their heart, as well as their head. In fact, about $1 of every $9 under professional management in the U.S. can be classified as an SRI investment.” (1) Signatories of the UN-PRI (The United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment) manage $59 trillion.

Children continue to suffer the effects of toxic chemotherapies because drug companies refuse to provide promising immunotherapy drugs. This is an example where investors can make a difference, by demanding that pharmaceutical companies invest in clinical trials as part of a move toward socially responsible investing. Now is the time for the investment community and pharmaceutical industry to redefine the metrics for valuing this industry. Pediatric cancer would be a good place to start.

Matriculation
To reinvent the clinical trial process, and to significantly increase the availability of new drugs and treatments for childhood cancer, will require participation and commitment from all cancer related sectors, including:

1. Pharmaceutical and investment communities: Develop criteria for valuing a pharmaceutical company’s contribution to improving childhood cancer. This will require shared leadership from both sectors such as the Security and Exchange Commission and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufactures of America Foundation  (www.phrma.org )
2. Childhood Cancer Nonprofits and Donors: This community funds both “care” to children/families fighting cancer and childhood cancer research. The “care” support they provide is important and effective. It should be continued. However, the funding of childhood cancer research is not. Instead they should redirect these funds to efforts that will greatly advance discovery by removing barriers to meaningful breakthrough. Fixing the childhood clinical trial process is a good place for them to start.
3. Government: Government laws and policies are among barriers to an effective and sensitized clinical trial process. Legislators should assess all such rules to assure they are not “suffocating, discouraging or preventing the research they seek to regulate.”
4. Tech companies: As noted above, fixing the clinical trial process will need to include artificial intelligence.

While each sector needs to take responsibility for their contribution to improving the clinical trial process, a holistic approach is still required. Fixing the childhood clinical trial process demands a coordinated effort framed by a shared mission, strategy and plan. We recommend that Dr. Ned Sharpless, NCI Director, lead this initiative.

In conclusion, our clinical trial process is broken. We need a new approach. One that is:

• Sensitized by the horrific journey, modernized by machine technology, and optimized to reward higher performance standards and collaboration.
• Built to reward pharmaceutical companies for investing in childhood cancer research.
• Holistic, with active participation and commitment from each sector.

To read our prior posts providing solutions to improving our approach pediatric cancer research, visit BridgeToACure.org.

The mission of Bridge to a Cure Foundation, a nonprofit fund, is to accelerate the pace and success of childhood cancer research by unlocking the full potential of resources already available today. Our vision is happier, healthier lives for children who face the challenges of this debilitating disease.To learn more about the foundation and add your support, visit BridgeToACure.org.

(1)  Forbes, April 24,2013 – Socially Responsible Investing: What You Need To Know
(2) UBS editorial in their March 2015 newsletter.