Members of the mcr Board
Bridget Bongaard, MD, President, Founder & Medical Director
Dr. Bongaard is a Board certified Internal Medicine physician, who completed Fellowship training from the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine in 2005. She set up programs for Integrative Oncology at her hospital in North Carolina, as well as Holistic Nursing, Integrative Chaplain program, Integrative Volunteers and Language Interpreters. She has consultant status from the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and is a Hospice Certified Medical Director. “Dr. B” co-founded the Maui Cancer Resources and is its Medical Director.
Some of Dr. B’s achievements are:
Chief of Integrative Medicine at Atrium Health Care Northeast
Lifetime achievement for pioneering work in Integrative Medicine 2022
Member of Society for Integrative Oncology
Member of quality of life team
Hawaiian cancer coalition member
Developed MCR cancer journey guide
Established cancer daytreats and workshops
Piloted research study on “chemo brain”
And recently 2023 recipient of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis presidential award of merit
Marseu Simpson
Marseu was born and raised in Rotuma, Fiji. Herbal medicine was part of her family's daily lives. As “Mars” would say “I don’t think any of us went to the doctor as kids, except for the shots required for school; from earache to you-name-it, my Mom had something for it." Mars has worked in Hawaii’s travel industry for over 30 years and is also a Co-founder of Alii Kula Lavender on Maui. She believes in giving back to the community as she serves on the board for Maui Cancer Resources and continues to practice a lifestyle of traditional self care.
MARY DUNGANS
Mary Dungans, President of the Mana’olana Pink Paddlers, is now working on the MCR Board of Directors. She has been collaborating with MCR for years as a leader of the “Pinks” and her skills in organization, marketing, program development are a great asset to our program. She cares deeply for our community, and has worked tirelessly to bring the Pinks healing paddling programs as well as “Waves of Hope” cancer support funding to our cancer patients here.
Prior to moving to Maui in 2001, Mary was a corporate meeting planner and opened the Ritz Carlton Rancho Mirage as director of sales in 1986. Mary founded Desert Adventures Red Jeep Tours and Metate Ranch Corporate Events in Palm Springs, Ca in 1987, which is now run by her daughter.
SHERRY HALSTEAD
Sherry Halstead has been an entrepreneur her entire adult life. She has an established software company specializing in Accounting software for the Wholesale, Import, Manufacturing industry as well as several other established businesses. She comes to MCR with extensive accounting knowledge and business acumen.
Her accomplishments include:
Opening one of the 1st retail computer stores in the City of Los Angeles in the early 80’s
Developing the first connection between a video camera and a desktop computer enabling the editing and capture of live video and graphics.
Developing a high security system designed to identify perpetrators by the retina of their eye.
Contributing early computer graphics to multiple feature films in Hollywood.
The development of Golden Accounting, an accounting software system (GAAP compliant) focused on the Import, Manufacturing and Wholesale industry specifically designed for the vertical markets of Gift Industry, Garment, Distribution.
She also branched out and established a residential rental property portfolio.
Jennifer Girard