Christine Merrill, MSW
Founder & CEO, Bone Marrow Foundation
As a young social worker at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Mount Sinai Medical Center, Christina Merrill witnessed firsthand the multitude of challenging hurdles patients have to navigate. Seeing the tremendous need for additional financial assistance and emotional support that most patients require–but aren’t always receiving–she began trying to help, even donating her own money to cover patients’ co-pays or transportation costs.
Realizing that she could only help so much as one person, Christina decided to start raising money to make a bigger impact on the lives of cancer patients. In 1992, Christina launched the Bone Marrow & Cancer Foundation (BMCF), throwing her first fundraiser at the Copacabana Club in Manhattan. Her father, well-known jazz pianist Joe Bushkin, was the first performer for this first of many fundraisers.
Today, Christina has expanded BMCF to provide solutions for every challenge she sees patients facing including offering temporary housing for patients undergoing treatment, mental health counseling, crowdfunding, doctor referrals and peer support. Christina launched the free app CancerBuddy to help patients, survivors, and caregivers find community, connection and important resources while navigating treatment and survivorship.