Director CLL Society (Cancer Survivor)
Bob is a graduate of Grove City College (BS ’73) and the University of Illinois (MS ’75). His professional career includes 32 years with Air Products & Chemicals, Inc., including 22 years on overseas assignments in Brazil, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore where he was VP/GM of the company’s largest division in Asia. Following retirement from Air Products, Bob also worked for ABEC (bioreactor manufacturer) as director of business development in Asia and now consults for Asia & Brazil Connections, LLC.
Bob was diagnosed with chronic lymphocyctic leukemia (CLL) while on his executive business assignment in Singapore in 2002. Following several years of treatments through remissions and relapses, Bob’s CLL became more aggressive. Without any other treatment options, he enrolled as one of the early experimental CAR T patients in 2013 at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia. The first CAR T procedure put Bob’s CLL into complete remission for three and a half years. He had a second CAR T while on ibrutinib at Penn Medicine in 2017 and his CLL is now minimum residual disease and stable on ibrutinib.
In addition to his board commitment to the CLL Society, Bob is on the Abramson Cancer Center Director’s Leadership Council at Penn Medicine. He is also active with the biopharma industry and university research hospitals on patient advocacy initiatives and new CAR T science business development.