Lung Cancer Survivor, Patient Advocate and Vice President of Empowerment
Gryt Health

Dave Bjork is a patient advocate and research evangelist with more than 20 years of progressive experience in community-building, nonprofit fundraising, and patient engagement and empowerment leadership roles. He is currently Vice President of Empowerment for Gryt Health, working on a team to provide patient-centric solutions to Gryt Health’s pharmaceutical and healthcare clients’ most challenging problems in order to help them better address patient needs. Dave is also host of the Research Evangelist Podcast where he interviews people in life sciences doing meaningful work. In addition, he is an advisor to Medidata Solutions where he serves on the Patient Insights Board team to bring the patient voice to the clinical trial experience. Previously Dave spent 8 years leading nonprofit fundraising and advocacy teams, including 4 years as Vice President of Development for National Foundation for Cancer Research where he was responsible for all fundraising and advocacy efforts. 

A lung cancer survivor, Bjork has made it his life mission to connect patients, biopharma companies, academic institutions, and other key influencers to forge strong partnerships to focus on research. He also advocates for and builds bridges between patient groups and the biopharma industry. He proudly serves on the Advisory Board of the Cancer Epigenetics Institute at Fox Chase Cancer Center, and the Board of The White Ribbon Project, a grassroots 501(c)3 nonprofit raising lung cancer awareness. Dave earned a BS in Economics and Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.