The fight against childhood cancer is a complex challenge requiring a united and strategic approach. While numerous passionate organizations are dedicated to this cause, a fragmented landscape can hinder progress. As we mentioned in our October blog, researchers, clinicians, patient advocates, and technology companies are already banding together to pool their knowledge and expertise to reimagine how pediatric disease research is conducted. This same collaborative spirit driving the sea change in research can also work when it comes to philanthropy and philanthropic groups you support.

To achieve a future where childhood cancer is no longer a life-threatening disease, we must:

• Support Innovative Research: Fund groundbreaking research projects that have the potential to revolutionize real-time, real-world treatment.
• Advocate for Policy Change: Work together to influence healthcare policies that prioritize pediatric cancer research.
• Foundational Collaboration: Partner with other foundations working toward the same goal to amplify impact on pediatric cancer research.

One possible path forward is by pooling resources and effort. In cooperation with other organizations, Bridge To A Cure Foundation can significantly enhance its impact and accelerate the pace of discovery.

The Missing Pieces

One of the biggest challenges in the pediatric cancer research field is the lack of coordination among non-profit organizations. This fragmentation can lead to inefficiencies:

• Redundancy in fundraising efforts: Competing for limited resources can dilute the impact of individual organizations.
• Duplication of research: Overlapping research projects can slow overall progress.
• Operational inefficiencies: Smaller organizations may struggle with administrative burdens, diverting funds from research.

A Call for Collaboration

Inspired by the collaborative spirit of the scientific community, we believe that philanthropic organizations can achieve an even more significant impact. As the pediatric cancer research landscape evolves, there is a growing need for philanthropic organizations to work together more closely. These organizations can significantly impact the field by aligning their efforts and pooling resources. One key challenge is to ensure that funding is directed towards the most promising research projects and that there is minimal duplication of effort.

A Shared Vision for the Future

A unified approach to philanthropy can help to accelerate progress towards a cure for childhood cancer.

By supporting common goals and priorities, philanthropic organizations can maximize their impact and ensure their contributions are used effectively.

Finally, one novel solution may be to convince these large research institutions with substantial excess reserves to establish a dedicated $100 million pediatric brain tumor fund. This fund could enable scientists to focus on innovative therapies and prevention strategies, bypassing bureaucratic hurdles and traditional research models. This bold idea has the potential to significantly improve outcomes for children battling brain tumors, offering hope where it was once scarce.

We enthusiastically invite philanthropic organizations to join us to accelerate scientific discovery, influence healthcare policies, and uplift families during their most challenging times. We now know that the pediatric cancer researcher community can do it successfully. Together, nonprofits and philanthropists can advance a future where childhood cancer is no longer a mortal threat, but a treatable disease.

How Scientists See the Field Moving Forward and Addressing the Underrepresentation of Childhood Cancer Research

The annual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) member meeting welcomed more than 20,000 cancer experts April 14th-19th at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The meeting provided ways to explore the latest breakthroughs and advancements in cancer treatment, including childhood cancer. With large-scale keynote sessions that involve dozens of brilliant minds from across the world to educational breakout sessions and poster presentations, attendees learned about the latest research findings, shared ideas, discussed cutting-edge advancements, and connected with others in the field. This meeting is crucial for moving the field of cancer research forward and paving the way for future treatments. And Bridge To A Cure Foundation was there.

Advancements in Cancer Research

One major area of focus at this year’s AACR meeting was precision medicine, which offers personalized cancer treatments that target the specific genetic mutations feeding an individual patient’s cancer. This approach has shown tremendous promise in treating certain types of cancer, giving hope to patients and families who previously had limited treatment options.

Another exciting area of research that was discussed entailed the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze vast amounts of data and develop new cancer treatments. This innovative technology has the potential to revolutionize cancer research and improve patient outcomes by identifying new patterns and insights that would be difficult to detect using traditional research methods. — and would take exponentially longer to detect without the use of machine learning.

However, despite these promising developments, cancer research still faces numerous challenges. One of the most pressing is the need for increased funding to support research and development. Without adequate resources, progress in cancer research will continue to be slow and limited, and patients and families will continue to suffer. Additionally, collaboration between researchers, clinicians, and patient advocates is crucial to advancing cancer research and improving patient outcomes.

At the AACR meeting, researchers highlighted the importance of working together to share knowledge and resources and to ensure that patients remain at the center of research and treatment decisions.

It’s important to recognize that behind each research presentation and statistic at the prestigious AACR gathering are real people who have been affected by cancer. Patients and their families are living with the devastating impact of this disease every day, and they rely on the efforts of researchers and experts to find new and better treatments. The advances in precision medicine and AI are not just scientific breakthroughs, they offer hope and better outcomes for individuals and families affected by cancer.

Overall, the AACR meeting is a reminder that progress is happening in cancer research, but there is still much work to be done. By prioritizing funding and collaboration, and by keeping patients at the forefront of research and treatment decisions, we can continue to make significant strides in the fight against cancer.

The Underrepresentation of Childhood Cancer Research

The underrepresentation of childhood cancer research is a devastating reality made apparent at the AACR meeting. Just a small fraction ofthe hundreds of presentations, booths, white papers, and research discussions touched upon childhood forms of the disease.

Despite the tremendous progress that has been made in adult cancer research, childhood cancer remains an area that is significantly underrepresented. With such a small fraction of cancer research focusing on children with cancer, our youngest patients face more limited treatment options and a lower chance of survival than adults with some of the deadliest forms of cancer. It also means that families are left to navigate a complex and confusing healthcare system, often with limited resources and support.

The underrepresentation of childhood cancer research is a human tragedy that affects real people and families every day. At the Children’s Brain Tumor Network booth, Bridge To A Cure leaders helped CBTN share the great news that researchers can freely access one of the largest data collections of its kind in the world.

This call to action invited researchers, clinicians, and policymakers to access shared data and collaborate to prioritize the needs of children with cancer and to dedicate the necessary resources to finding better treatments and cures.

Childhood cancer is an area of research that has historically received less funding and attention than adult cancers, despite being the leading cause of death from disease in children. While it is important to recognize the progress that has been made in childhood cancer research, there is still much work to be done. We cannot let another day go by without taking action to end the suffering of children with cancer and their families.

Consider supporting our mission by learning more about our efforts to empower discovery through collaboration, and the unique need for personalized medicine for every child with cancer.

New studies show that machine learning will forever change the diagnosis and treatment of brain tumors.

After decades of humankind accomplishing amazing feats, the children’s cancer space has continued to fall short. In the last forty-plus years, just four treatments have been developed—and nothing is close to a cure. That’s why, when we founded Bridge To A Cure Foundation, we exclaimed, “We’ve had enough.” We set out on a mission to collaborate with those who unleash discovery and accelerate breakthroughs. And, we’ve partnered with those willing with us to lead the charge: including the Children’s Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) and St. Baldrick’s Foundation. You can learn more about these partnerships here.

Our judgment to build these collaborative relationships has not been misplaced.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is something we hear about frequently these days. Essentially, AI enables the completion of complicated tasks using powerful, advanced computing technology. AI has demonstrated it can be assigned a task that may take humans months or years to complete and complete it in just days or even minutes. In the children’s cancer research space, it’s become potentially the biggest buzzword of the year—and for good reason. Because of the tremendous efforts of many in the Bridge To A Cure network, when it comes to AI applications in childhood cancer, big things are happening.

The Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas gives researchers access to large and comprehensive enough data that AI is now being introduced to make better diagnoses and treatment protocols for children with brain tumors. This, in turn, means researchers are better informed—which translates to a better chance at a bright future for our most at-risk cancer fighters.

Some ways AI can advance progress for sick kids is by:

• Near-automatic detection of brain tumors on MRI scans
• Providing subtype predictions that can lead to quicker, more accurate diagnosis
• Help doctors identify the most appropriate treatment options for each individual child
• Assist in detecting disease progression

Without the CBTN Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas, these monumental efforts simply wouldn’t be possible. Efforts such as:

Predicting underlying tumor subtypes

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of childhood brain tumor subtypes. This is one of the many reasons that research in this area is so complex. Led by Benjamin Kaan from the Harvard Medical School and using the CBTN data, researchers are developing methods that allow quicker and more accurate identification of tumor subtypes. These new technologies can help bridge the knowledge gap between researchers’ limited understanding of the characteristics of certain types of tumors. AI insights will allow researchers to better help children by matching each individual’s tumor to a specific therapy that can best help them.

Advancing imaging diagnostics

Dr. Nabavizadeh and his team at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) are focused on impact rather than popularity. This doesn’t mean that their work should go unnoticed, however. As the Director of Imaging at CHOP and an important research partner for CBTN, his focus now turns to improve MRI imaging procedures. Such procedures that will allow not just the quicker identification of tumor subtypes, but also better detect how tumor progression responds to treatments, allowing a quicker understanding of what is working and what isn’t.

In the overwhelming majority of studies performed so far, the implementation of AI technologies in imaging demonstrates superiority in areas from tumor diagnosis to dosage calculation for radiotherapies. In many cases, AI performs with more accuracy than clinical experts alone. Artificial intelligence capabilities for children’s brain cancer have grown exponentially in recent years — and although this progress is paramount, the fight isn’t over yet. Projects like the one led by Dr. Nabavizadeh face an endangering lack of resources that stymie technological advancement. Learn more about how you can support these efforts at the Bridge To A Cure website.

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.

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.