Conquer Cancer Foundation Chair Leads with Exuberance and Meaningful Philanthropy

Dr. Martin J. Murphy Sees Opportunities in All Aspects of Giving, Including in the Challenges

The Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Chair Martin J. Murphy, DMedSc, PhD, speaks with eloquence, authority, and passion when he talks about the Foundation’s role in defeating cancer and about the honor and responsibility he feels in his role. His authority is firmly anchored by a lifetime of major ccomplishments as a researcher, entrepreneur, and executive, but equally by his legacy as a philanthropist. He has a wealth of both passion and compassion as a cancer survivor.

Martin J. Murphy, DMedSc, PhD

A top donor to the Conquer Cancer Foundation, Dr. Murphy sees the opportunity to donate as a chance of a lifetime.

"If you are passionate about what the Foundation does and look to the future, you see there is an opportunity to conquer cancer. If I don’t do my part, it will be left undone or have to be done by someone else, leaving me unfulfilled."

He believes that contributing to the Foundation also gives oncologists and other caregivers the chance of a lifetime. The Foundation is changing the future of patients with cancer by providing the financial underpinning for many ASCO programs.

"The treatment of patients in the United States and in many parts of the world is being affected daily by ASCO because of education provided at the ASCO Annual Meeting and disease-specific symposia. They are the quintessential educational meetings of every calendar year."

Dr. Murphy points to Cancer.Net, ASCO’s patient information website, as another example of how the Foundation directly supports patient care and the oncology community’s professional milieu.

 

Embracing Opportunity with Passion

"The Foundation, is inviting partnership— exuberant support for its vision of a world free from the fear of cancer."

— Martin J. Murphy, DMedSc, PHD

Dr. Murphy tells a story about how his own cancer diagnosis led to his passion for embracing opportunity. While he was awaking after emergency surgery, surrounded by his wife and five children, his brother telephoned. His wife placed the phone on his pillow, and he heard his brother’s voice: "Marty, do you know that the Chinese symbol for ‘crisis’ or ‘catastrophe’ can also be translated as ‘opportunity’?"

Dr. Murphy continues, "The crisis that had entered my life with this diagnosis could be a chance of a lifetime— an opportunity for personal and family growth, if I were able to embrace it in the right way." He emphasizes that embracing this new opportunity is a daily exercise, not a single event or change.

Dr. Murphy sees contributing to the Foundation as an opportunity for those in the oncology community to make a commitment to their profession. "The Foundation is seeking more than contributions. It is inviting partnership—exuberant support for its vision of a world free from the fear of cancer. This is the opportunity to say ‘I am taking a stand, that in my lifetime, I’m going to do all that I can to conquer cancer—in my profession, from my own personal treasury, and from my heart. Most of all, from my heart.’"

This article was adapted from the May 15, 2011 issue of The ASCO Post.