Health Advisory Board

Rob Rutledge

Dr. Rob Rutledge is a full-time radiation oncologist specializing in breast, prostate and pediatric cancers. He is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.

Rob is a passionate and dynamic public speaker. He believes by living in a positive and fulfilling way we can have a profound influence on our health and well-being. Presenting scientific knowledge and providing insights gained from serving people dealing with life threatening disease, he has touched the hearts and minds of diverse audiences with his compassion and wisdom.

Rob pioneered the cancer support group Skills for Healing Weekend Retreats in 1999 in Halifax and continues to expand the program across Canada.

Rob cherishes the opportunity to deliver talks about health promotion, the science of the mind-body connection, and spirituality and health.

Archie Bleyer

Archie Bleyer, M.D. is a Medical Advisor to the St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, Oregon and Director of the Aflac Research Projects in Adolescent & Young Adult Oncology for the Children's Oncology Group (COG). Dr. Bleyer served as Chair of the Children's Cancer Group (CCG) for ten years, then the largest pediatric cancer research organization with 2880 investigators at 120 institutions and patients from 48 states, 6 Canadian provinces, Australia and New Zealand. He established the Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Program of the CCG, the Children's Oncology Group, and NCI, and coined the term 'AYA' (Adolescent and Young Adult). He is currently serving on the NCI Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program Review Group and the LiveStrong Young Adult Alliance.

He has served on the NCI Director's Clinical Trial Review Group, the National Board and Blue Ribbon Research Committee of the American Cancer Society, and the National Dialogue on Cancer (C Change). From 1990 to 1999, Mosbacher Chair and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and from 2000 to 2005 Director of the MD Anderson Community Clinical Oncology Program. In total, Dr. Bleyer has been awarded research grants totaling more than $75 million as a Principal Investigator from the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, and the Leukemia Society of America. His current clinical research mission is dedicated to improving the outcome of young adults with cancer, who in general have not fared as well as younger and older patients. He regards Young Adult Cancer Canada as an excellent avenue to achieve this goal.

Lynne Robinson

Lynne Robinson, PhD, is a licensed psychologist as well as a professor in the School of Health and Human Performance at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS. Her research interests are in how personal relationships and support from others can improve health and in the use of the Internet for promoting health. Thus, when Geoff Eaton contacted her to help him carry out research into how Young Adult Cancer Canada was helping young adult survivors with cancer, she was very eager to be involved. She attended the first Retreat Yourself in Newfoundland in September 2005, and interviewed retreaters to develop a report on how users would like the RealTime Cancer Community to be improved.

As well as her work, Lynne is mother to a teenage daughter and enjoys gardening. Her mother and sister had breast cancer and her father died of prostate cancer, so the issue of cancer is close to her heart.