The BAMF Health Foundation – Expanding Access, Research, and Hope

In this episode, Christine VanTimmeren and Dr. Brandon Mancini are joined by Afton DeVos, Consulting Director of the Foundation for Medical Advancement and Breakthroughs (FMAB).

This conversation explores the origin and mission of FMAB—created in response to grateful patients who wanted to help others access life-saving care. Together, they discuss how the foundation is working to remove financial barriers, accelerate research, and expand education so more patients can benefit from cutting-edge therapies.

Afton shares her deeply personal connection to this work as a cancer survivor and caregiver, and how her family’s experience—including the loss of her father while awaiting a clinical trial—fuels the urgency behind expanding access and speeding innovation.

We also break down the foundation’s three core pillars:

Access – Helping patients overcome financial barriers to treatment
Research – Supporting clinical trials and accelerating innovation
Education – Raising awareness about available therapies and opportunities

This episode is a powerful look at how philanthropy, innovation, and patient-centered care come together to change lives—and save them.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to The Foundation for Medical Advancement and Breakthroughs (FMAB)
00:52 Meet Afton DeVos & Her Background
03:46 How the Foundation Started 
05:24 What the Foundation Does 
05:30 Barriers to Care
08:44 Foundation Pillars: Access, Research, Education
09:36 Research: Why Faster Innovation Matters
10:07 Investigator-Initiated Trials Explained
11:45 Why Speed Matters in Clinical Research
12:01 Afton’s Personal Story & Family Cancer Journey
15:17 Funding the Foundation & Early Growth
18:22 Impact of Patient & Family Donations
20:07 Afton’s Shares More of Her Personal and Family Story
24:41 Pancreatic Cancer & Clinical Trial Access
26:11 Looking Ahead: 2026 Initiatives & Events
27:56 How to Get Involved & Support the Foundation
29:15 Final Thoughts on Access & Impact

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Dr. Brandon Mancini
Christine VanTimmeren

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Transcript

Christine VanTimmeren 0:05

Welcome to the BAMF Health Podcast. I'm Christine Van Timmeren.

Brandon Mancini 0:09

I'm Dr. Brandon Mancini.

Christine VanTimmeren 0:10

And today's episode is a special one. We are talking about BAMF Health's Foundation with our foundation consulting director, Afton DeVos. This is a special initiative for BAMF, the creation of our foundation. Something we'll get into was never sort of the idea from the beginning of BAMF. It just sort of happened. We launched our foundation 2024. You've been doing a lot of work behind the scenes to get the foundation up and running. So, Afton, to begin, tell us a little bit about yourself, how you got connected to BAMF, your background, all of those things so we can get to know you.

Afton DeVos 0:52

Well, that's a lot in one package. Maybe we should start. Hi, Afton. How are you? Tell us a little bit about yourself. It's great to be with you today. Thanks for having me. And thanks for featuring the Foundation for Medical Advancement and Breakthroughs, also known as the BAMF Health Foundation.

Christine VanTimmeren 1:10

If you can figure out where the name sort of came from, bonus points, brownie points. Oh, you're not even gonna tell them.

Afton DeVos 1:17

I mean, we could. How about you tell them? Okay, it's BAMF spelled backward.

Brandon Mancini 1:21

Yep.

Afton DeVos 1:22

There you go. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa, we did it. So the Foundation for Medical Advancement and Breakthroughs is uh connected to me personally because this is a passion project for me. Um I am born and raised in West Michigan, went away to Butler for uh in, I was a Hoosier for a little bit, um a bulldog for a little bit in Indianapolis for college, but came back, um have been raising my family with my husband Aaron. We have two wonderful boys, Zachary and Colton. And we're West Michiganders and we're Michiganders at heart. So um we love this state, we love the innovation, we love um the businesses that are in the state, we love the people. And my life's work has been about human flourishing work. So I have a business. I'm a nonprofit consultant, and what that means is I help organizations in health and human services start, scale, um, get healthier to serve human flourishing. So these are organizations like housing, food security, um, and in this particular case, health and access to health and equitable access to health. So I personally am a cancer survivor and my dad, uh Scott, was a BAMF Health patient. And so when the foundation got kicked off, which we'll talk about the inception in just a second, um, Chad and Anthony, the leaders at BAMF Health, reached out and said, Hey, Afton, would you be interested in helping us get this thing off the ground? And I mean, I didn't even have to think for more than a second. The answer was a resounding yes. So they can be convincing. They can be very convincing, very convincing. And I'm super passionate. My family, we're all super passionate about what BAMF Health is doing, the innovation on the forefront of cancer care and devastating disease care. And so that alone would have made me say yes. But also, um, my life's work has been around creating equitable access to health and human services so that individuals can be their best. And um, this just really marries a deep personal passion as a cancer survivor. And we'll talk a little bit about how cancer's impacted my family, but it's a personal passion with my life's work. And so it was just a resounding yes. So I'm thrilled to be in a fractional role for the Foundation for Medical Advancement and Breakthroughs and helping get things started.

Christine VanTimmeren 3:45

We're certainly happy to have you. So we mentioned the foundation. So I don't even want to say accidentally started because it's not quite that, but there was a very special reason why the foundation started. Tell us about that.

Afton DeVos 4:00

Yeah, I mean, when when they called me at first, they were starting to get checks in the mail from BAMF Health patients, grateful patients, who were writing the checks out to BAMF Health. And BAMF Health is a healthcare company. And so they said, What do we do with these checks? And ultimately, these were patients who had had treatment, had had more birthdays, more anniversaries, had extended their lives, and also had had an exemplary level of care. And they wanted to make sure that other patients could have this as well. So it's an incredibly altruistic thing when you've been treated well to pay it forward. Um, and so they said this is an opportunity for us to look at how do we make sure innovation stays accessible and equitable. And so BAMF Health is really about making things affordable, accessible as soon as possible. And the foundation makes sure that that as soon as possible is for everyone.

Christine VanTimmeren 4:52

You were seeing a little bit of that on your side too, right, Brandon?

Brandon Mancini 4:56

Yeah, and it's pretty incredible when you can kind of deliver care to family, to a patient, and then ultimately you start seeing these letters in the mail coming through where people appreciate and want to support mission. Um, and yeah, that was picking up in volume as we kind of got further and further into our clinical journey here. Um and yeah, it it was the right time to do something more formal about it and to help more people more quickly.

Christine VanTimmeren 5:24

So, what is our foundation going to do? What is going to be the focus of it?

Afton DeVos 5:30

Well, access is the entry point. So about 50% of cancer patients experience some level of what's called financial toxicity. So if you think about when you get an unexpected medical bill, whether that's a really high copay or that's you're underinsured and you have to make up that gap, that impacts things. And there are a lot of individuals in our community that are one financial crisis away from even bankruptcy. So we have in just in the state of Michigan, about 40%, 40 to 43%, depending on the year, of our population within the state of Michigan are what we call ALICE families. They are asset limited, income constrained, and employed. So these are individuals that are working, they're healthcare workers, they're teachers, they're nurses, they're really important jobs within our community, people within our community, that when a financial strain or say a, you know, a car accident or something significant happens in their life, they have financial toxicity. So it can mean that they can't pay rent or mortgage, it can mean that they can't provide the basic needs for their kids. Food becomes an issue. And so this is a very common term that our United Ways talk about when we talk about who it is that we're serving. And I think we're particularly passionate at the foundation around this gap because often these are our underinsured patients. Sometimes we have uninsured patients that come into the clinic or in any clinic or hospital within Michigan. Often we have underinsured patients. And so there's this gap, and they have access because it's available, but they lack access because it's unaffordable. And so they have to make really difficult decisions about whether or not they're gonna not only thrive, but in this case, what we see at BAMF Health is this is about survival. So we're we're first in the forefront of access. That's that's the biggest priority. How do we remove that financial barrier, particularly for patients who are in a specific situation where they have gone to various levels of care, cancer care right now, um, and are wanting the most innovative accessible care to extend life. Right now, they're finding that at BAMF Health. And this will be a foundation that benefits all Michigan private clinics in the space of Theranostics that want to extend their life. And so creating access through a patient access fund where individuals can apply for coinsurance support, those that that um maybe it's a deductible or it's a gap in their insurance to be able to get life-saving and life-extending care is our first priority.

Christine VanTimmeren 8:18

My guess is adults specifically, when faced with a situation like that, I have a healthcare need, I can't afford it, are going to put themselves last. They're going to say the most important thing for me is to take care of my family and to get them the food and the shelter and the things that they need and put their health on the back burner, which is exactly what you don't want.

Afton DeVos 8:43

Yeah, I think that's what we see across healthcare in general. And um we just really feel that access to these types of therapies shouldn't be limited by financial hardship. Um it shouldn't be, it should be based on medical need. And um in addition to that, one of the three pillars, so our three pillars of the foundation are access, research, and education. I'll skip research and come back to that in a minute, but education is also important. So part of our goal as a foundation is to help understand both our our providers as well as our patients and community partners, employers, that if you have an end-stage cancer diagnosis, it it may not be the end. There is life extending care available to you. And so educating people on what's available. And then if they do have a financial need, that this patient access fund will be available.

Christine VanTimmeren 9:36

When we talk about the research aspect of our foundation, what is the need, Brandon, when it comes to research? Because there's a research that's happening among clinical trial sponsors. And these are big, massive clinical trials that cost a lot of money. They take years and years to complete. We are talking about slightly different opportunities, smaller, more compact, but super impactful. So, what are some examples of those, you think?

Brandon Mancini 10:07

Yeah, so I think big picture to your point, industry-sponsored or even cooperative group-sponsored clinical trials are multi-institutional. They're typically national or international, and they have a lot of predefined specifications, number of patients, requirements for entry or exit from a unique clinical trial, type of disease sites that are being treated, et cetera. But what also takes place at a lot of academic institutions with good funding are what's called investigator-initiated trials. And so for BAMF Health as a private organization, those investigator-initiated trials are super intriguing and important because we're very nimble. Uh, we have lots of good ideas as to how to apply how to apply the treatments uh that are both FDA approved and used within clinical trials. But you need funding, you need support to be able to enable those projects to take place. Um, but what that allows us to do is kind of put our best scientific and clinical minds together and come up with very unique approaches to try to solve a problem or doing better than we're able to do in uh certain FDA-approved pathways or other clinical trials. And so it gives us the flexibility, the support to come up with unique ideas to help people who may not have access or may not qualify for one of those big clinical trials that are through industry or through cooperative groups. Um so even just supporting investigator-initiated trials will enable more people to get more treatment and um yeah, allow us to discover more uh things that may be beneficial for a wide variety of different conditions.

Christine VanTimmeren 11:45

And faster too.

Brandon Mancini 11:46

Absolutely.

Christine VanTimmeren 11:47

And it isn't limited to BAMF health. We're not trying to simply facilitate our own research and our own needs and our own ideas. Truly, it's if there are great ideas out there, we want to hear about them, right?

Afton DeVos 12:01

Absolutely. So um just a couple of statistics that I think are really interesting for people who are not inside the medical field. The average um time it takes from a study to move from concept to activation is 18 months. And so if you're talking about something where you have a patient who's at end stage life and you have the ability within your lab to extend that site, which is the entire reason why BAMF Health was started in the first place. When Dr. Chang had a patient who he knew what was in his lab could extend her life, and then he was not able to get it to her, and she died. That is extremely motivating. So that's the bold advanced medical future we're hoping for, right? Um, so a great example is my dad, Scott. So I mentioned earlier my dad was a cancer patient. Dr. Mancini happened to also be his BAMF Health doctor. Um, and he uh cancer's touched my family many times over. Um, my mom and my bonus mom, we don't call her stepmom, my bonus mom. My mom Marsha is a breast cancer survivor and a melanoma survivor. My mom, Debbie, is a kidney cancer survivor. My sister Allie is a thyroid cancer survivor. Um, I have aunts, cousins, um, and then myself, I had cancer was when I was in high school. And my dad had prostate cancer five years ago, and then two years ago died awaiting the first of its kind pancreatic clinical trial at BAMF Health. He died three months before the trial started. And so when I think about when we were waiting for this trial, had that trial not even been on his mind as something he could hold on to, that's a totally different, you know, totally different scenario. He had so much hope, not just for himself, but for the future of others, that he participated in the first imaging trial for this. But we needed the imaging trial to be able to have the clinical trial. And yet it all of that takes time. And he died right before it started. So for me, the time thing is a big thing. And for a lot of families awaiting um whether or not their loved one will live or die, time is of the essence. And so if we have things in our labs where we have investigators, these smart, savvy, humble leaders that are submitting their lives to the the um the occupation of life saving. I mean, that's really what it is. And we don't have funding available when we live in a world of abundance in this country. To me, that's really sad. And so one of the things we want to do at the foundation is work with those really smart investigators across the state of Michigan. And our vision is beyond Michigan, but right now we're gonna lock down in the state we know and love to be able to say, what do you have in your labs that could be a yes-no answer? And if it's a yes, okay, then we'll go and seek additional funding. Now that we've gotten a yes, um, we don't want these incredibly innovative solutions to life-saving care to end up in what's known sometimes within um healthcare institutions is a valley of death where great ideas go to die.

Christine VanTimmeren 15:16

Nobody wants a valley of death. Nope. All of the things that could go there are what we want to focus on and try to bring forward. So we've been, I don't know if under the radar is the way to put it, but there are probably lots of people who weren't aware that we had a foundation. And maybe that was slightly intentional. We've been building sort of the base and the foundation for our foundation. Um tell us from a funding standpoint where donations and money has come from. And as we are thinking to the future of the foundation, the opportunities that that might exist to for others to help facilitate and give.

Afton DeVos 15:59

Yeah, I love that question because I think it references two really important points. One is that um, because we're bold at BAMF, we want to go fast. And when you're in the space of nonprofit work, you have to make sure that you go at the speed of trust. And um trust is built when healthy nonprofits make sure that they have things operating in a transparent, healthy way with good board governance, the right leadership around the table, the right um North Stars, and that the community is aligned with the vision. And so um that's something I've been really passionate about from day one. I'm really proud to share. We have a phenomenal group of eight um board members that have signed on to govern this organization and partner with me as we continue to scale and eventually we'll hire a staff as well. Um, in that time, we have really mostly, we've done some small public appeals for support. We are a charitably funded organization, a 501c3. Um, but most of it has continued to come from grateful patients at the clinic, which is so humbling. When you see those checks, and um, I know that the doctors and nurses at BAMF feel that. Um, we certainly feel that at the foundation level. They are also individuals who have seen, have caught on to what we're doing and they know the impact we could have. And so we've had some really meaningful, generous contributions at year end as well. So we're starting to get some momentum in the fundraising space. Um, but we are now this year is really about going, going big, um, sharing publicly that what we're trying to do, um, working to launch our patient assistance fund, uh, working to launch our first clinical trial research initiative, um, our grant, making sure we have the structures and protocols in place to do that well and in a compliant way. And I think the world is our oyster. I mean, we have so much we can do with this organization. And so it's really at the speed of our ability to raise funds. So we're going to be hosting some events this year, and I'm really excited about that. And also just meeting individually with people who are passionate. Do they have the link to what we're doing? Do they have affinity for our work, for bold innovation that's accessible? And do they have the ability to give? And I and I will just say this every gift is meaningful. Every gift is impactful because these are lives that are on the line.

Christine VanTimmeren 18:21

Not only have those gifts come from grateful patients, Brandon, we see them from the the families of patients, even those who have passed on, right?

Brandon Mancini 18:31

Yeah. No, I I don't think there's a bigger compliment than when families whose patients patients or whose families whose loved ones have been treated at BAMF Health, um, whether they've passed on or are still living, when those family members or those patients are advocating uh for donations to where they received care, um, I mean, there's not a bigger compliment in the world. So the fact that they were mo so moved by their care pathway at BAMF, their experience, they want to share that with others, they want others to help support that mission. Um, when people go out of their way to want to support you as a healthcare institution and provider, um, again, not a bigger compliment that could be paid. So it's really inspiring, to your point, to our team to continue uh to deliver the best care we could possibly do to continue to provide that experience and um reach more lives and save more lives.

Christine VanTimmeren 19:28

Because they have, I mean, we have had some significant donations and we're incredibly grateful for those. Um sometimes those little $25, $5, I mean, we we get those too.

Afton DeVos 19:44

Absolutely. We are very grassroots funded. We have not been funded by one large gift at this point. We're very grassroots funded. And we are also at the point where people who are philanthrop philanthropically minded, we are hoping that we build trust so that those who can make larger investments will see this as a pathway to healthcare innovation and equitable access to that.

Christine VanTimmeren 20:07

Afton, tell us a little bit more about um your story, your dad's story. Um obviously the the options were limited in the end for your dad. And so it sounds like clinical trials were sort of the next step for him. So tell us a little bit more about what went into that choice and decision.

Afton DeVos 20:30

Yeah, well, go back to just kind of our family story. Um, everybody, we all know cancer doesn't discriminate. Um, and there are many other devastating diseases beyond cancer that BAMF does and hopes to um be a part of. But for us, cancer has been, I would just say, a particular hard, a brand, particular brand of hard for our family. Um, everybody has been impacted that I know by the disease, and our family has been impacted in a profound way. So the first diagnosis in our family, um, I fun fact about me, I have two sets of parents. Um my parents were divorced when I was very young and both remarried. And so Marcia and Larry and Scott and Debbie are my two sets of parents. Um, and I'm blessed by a lot of love. And um five of the five or four of my parents, out of the four of them, three have been diagnosed with a collective five, five different types of cancer. Oh my gosh. Um, and the first one was my mom, Marcia, when I was in eighth grade, she had breast cancer. And that was the first time um that we really even talked about cancer as a family. And um, that was when we thought a breast cancer diagnosis meant immediately uh a fatality, right? And um, I'm very grateful to God that she lived and can has continued to thrive and has become a cancer advocate in our community. Um, shortly after that, three years after that, I was diagnosed with stage three B Hodgkin lymphoma. When I was a junior in high school. And for those who are not familiar, Hodgkin's lymphoma is, you know, what they might call one of the better cancers. It's very curable. But I did go through chemotherapy as a high schooler and it was a very difficult time. But I'm also super grateful for the community that arose around me. And I learned so much through that experience. And it's been a life's calling to be able to make sure that the type of health care that I had is accessible for all as a result of that. And I know my mom feels that as well. When I was in college, my bonus mom, Debbie, she was diagnosed with kidney cancer. And then I would just say within a period of the next decade, it was literally year after year after year. Two of my very close personal friends, John Zorhoff, my senior year of college, and Leah Koldenhoven, as young adults, both high school friends, great friends, both passed away of ALL and colorectal cancer. And so for me, watching the end of their lives was both heartbreaking and also incredibly motivating. And so in this work, I honor them as well. As a family, I shared about my sister as well. Allie was diagnosed with thyroid cancer as we as we go just into a period of six years. She was diagnosed, then my dad got prostate cancer, then my mom got melanoma, and then the big one came, which was my dad's pancreatic cancer. And so it's just, we've just been on this constant train of cancer diagnoses. Um and and I don't share that to say, you know, woe is our family. What I share that to say is it's just an incredibly personal thing for us. And I will also say it has collectively united around us around this fight. It's collectively united us around what do we do about this? And that's why my dad was so passionate about BAMF. He saw and experienced at BAMF Health what he wanted to be available for everyone. And he was a dentist. So um his dental practice was really important to him. Um, he was on the road to retirement, but not quite there when he passed. And he had a passion in his dental practice for people who were underresourced. And that was something that was really important to him. And so um he wanted to make sure that the in the future this was accessible to anybody. So again, he was he was awaiting a clinical trial. Um, he never he didn't say goodbye, you guys, because he didn't believe he he didn't believe he was gonna go. He he was in the fight till the bitter end.

Christine VanTimmeren 24:41

You got to meet her dad. Pancreatic cancer, that's that's a tough one. That's one of those ones that that hits people and hits them hard. And so his situation was was pretty common, I guess, right?

Brandon Mancini 24:55

Yeah, it's just tough because in pancreatic cancer, there's essentially two kind of chemotherapy regimens that have been proven and can have activity within that space. But outside of that, if you look at the national guidelines, actually enrollment on a clinical trial is uh one of the number one recommendations, and that kind of speaks on how important it is to find more solutions, more options to improve quality and quantity of life. Um, but I mean Scott was amazing, and we always had such good conversations. Um, and you could just tell the passion in his mind and the altruism to participate in the imaging trial because he was helping the future of the field. Um, that was something he continued to say and emphasize. And um, yeah, I mean, each and every day we work in his honor uh and the many other patients that have passed, kind of awaiting some of these breakthroughs. And luckily, a lot of these breakthroughs are happening, like each month it's something new, which is super inspirational. Um, but yeah, without each and every patient that is inspiring along the way, we all have the story and the why. And that uh allows it to allows us to keep going and kind of give our best effort and continue to push the mission forward.

Christine VanTimmeren 26:11

Speaking of pushing forward, looking forward to all of the initiatives in 2026, we talked about the patient access fund launching that. I mean, I think we really hope to deploy dollars to research this year as well. Um, we have the BAMF 108 Prostate Cancer Awareness Month walk that we launched last year that we're hoping to benefit the foundation this year. Uh you have to be excited about all of those things.

Afton DeVos 26:39

I am excited, and I hope you'll have us back near September where we can talk. Maybe we'll bring a board member to talk about the 108 walk. Um that will be an opportunity for us to really raise visibility, um, to really talk about it's uh it's hosted by BAMF, but it's benefiting the foundation. And I'm an opportunity to talk about prostate cancer awareness month, um, Pluvicto as a strategy in metastatic prostate cancer and um access and how to access that via the foundation if if financial hardship is a reality for you. So I'm excited about that. I'm also just excited, we've done a lot of building this last year. And so I'm excited in 2026 to be able to share what we're doing, how we're gonna do it, and most importantly, how the state of Michigan can be involved. And those who live beyond the state of Michigan who are interested in what we're doing, we like I said earlier, our vision is beyond this state. We want to make sure that this um incredibly innovative healthcare technology is accessible and affordable and available to everybody.

Christine VanTimmeren 27:44

If someone has been inspired by what they've heard today, and I sure hope they have been because I am, um, how can they get involved? How can they give? How can they support?

Afton DeVos 27:56

Yeah, well, I'll give you my personal email. I know. Get ready. Here you go. Get ready afton.devos at bamfhealth.com, a-f-t-o -n dot devos at b-a-m-f health.com. Uh if you're interested in getting involved and uh investing in the future of this organization, I'd love to have a personal conversation with you. I will also send you to our website, which is BAMF Health.com / foundation. And you can learn more about our pillars that we're focused on. Um, you'll be able to see our board, our wonderful board that's joined us on board. And we invite you to follow us on follow BAMF Health, which is continuing to host the foundation on our social media channels and promote and share about the foundation. Um, join us and and stay abreast to what we're up to.

Christine VanTimmeren 28:47

And you don't have to be personally impacted by BAMF or the work at BAMF or anything like that to participate or give.

Afton DeVos 28:56

No, if you feel a particular passion around innovative healthcare and the accessibility and the acceleration for any individual who may not have access to it or any study that may not have the acceleration it needs, join us. Join us.

Christine VanTimmeren 29:15

This is an incredibly important part of BAMF's mission. Like we said, we've always talked about how making this accessible, affordable as soon as possible is our mission. The foundation is helping us further that and like you said, accelerate that. So we really appreciate you being on board and the work that you're doing. It's very meaningful. Um, and we can't wait to see where this foundation goes.

Afton DeVos 29:40

Thank you. I'm thrilled to be here. Thanks for inviting me today. Thanks for shining a light on this important work. And um here we go.

Christine VanTimmeren 29:48

Here we go. Thanks. Thanks, Afton.

Brandon Mancini 29:50

Yeah.

Christine VanTimmeren 29:50

All right, we'll see you next time. Thanks for watching.