Brandon is an Orthopaedic Surgery resident at the University of California, Los Angeles, with clinical and research interests centered on musculoskeletal oncology and pediatric sarcoma. He completed his undergraduate training in Health Sciences and Leadership at Chapman University and earned his medical degree from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. His academic work focuses on translational sarcoma research and the development of scalable tissue-biobanking and survivorship infrastructure. He serves as a physician-leader within Curing Kids Cancer’s International Sarcoma Initiative, an effort to close the longstanding funding and outcomes gap in pediatric sarcoma care.
I was inspired to join the CKC mission because…
My path to Curing Kids Cancer began at home. I was raised by grandparents whose survival — a triple bypass at thirty-six, thirteen battles with cancer — gave me more than twenty additional years with each of them, teaching me early that breakthroughs do not simply extend survival but create childhoods, families, and futures. When I was introduced to the foundation during medical school, the mission resonated immediately, because it is the practical expression of what my family taught me, applied to the children and families who need it most.
The most impactful thing about serving on the CKC Board is…
What has been most impactful about serving Curing Kids Cancer is watching philanthropy translate directly into durable research infrastructure — tissue databases, collaborative forums, survivorship pathways — rather than isolated, short-lived projects. The foundation’s family roots keep that work tethered to the patients and families it is ultimately meant to serve, which sharpens every funding decision and every scientific priority. For me personally, the most meaningful part has been helping turn what my own family taught me about the value of time into a framework that can deliver that same time to other children and the people who love them.
One thing I wish more people knew about childhood cancer research is…
What I wish more people understood is how profoundly underfunded and under-supported sarcoma research remains relative to its clinical burden. Sarcomas account for roughly 15% of pediatric cancer diagnoses yet receive only 1–2% of national cancer research funding, and outcomes for metastatic and recurrent disease have been effectively static for decades.
