About
Bridging exposure data and preventive care
ThePharmaBridge, a nonprofit, uses structured intake and a sourced evidence base to connect high-risk frontline workers — starting with firefighters — to evidence-based screening through their own physicians.
Mission
What we do
Connect high-risk, underserved occupational groups to evidence-informed preventive screening through their own physicians, with a live intake platform and a physician-facing report.
Vision
Where we're going
National infrastructure where exposure data guides people to the right preventive care before disease progresses — starting with firefighters, expanding to other high-risk occupational cohorts.
The Problem
Why we exist
In the NIOSH pooled cohort of nearly 30,000 U.S. career firefighters, cancer incidence was 9% and cancer mortality 14% above the U.S. population (Daniels et al., 2014). Exposure is documented; structured access to prevention is not.
PFAS foam, diesel exhaust, and structure fire combustion byproducts create chronic carcinogen burden. Yet no standardized pathway carries a firefighter's exposure history to the physician who decides on screening — this is the gap ThePharmaBridge addresses.
The gap in care
- —No standardized exposure intake at scale
- —No exposure record a physician can act on after department physicals stop
- —Fragmented access to specialized screening
- —No longitudinal outcome tracking
Our Approach
What makes us different
Exposure-Specific Intake
Structured occupational history capture — not a generic symptom checker — routing based on published risk patterns.
Physician-Facing Output
A report the firefighter hands to their own physician, with directories of specialist types and firefighter organizations — not a referral network we control.
Sourced, Not Asserted
Every statement in the evidence base carries a dated public source. The base is versioned and its version is stamped on every report.
Honest About Review
The evidence base and matching rules are documented and reviewable, and each report says on its face what has and has not been clinician-reviewed.
Credibility & Impact
Built on evidence, moving toward measurable outcomes
We cite public guidance by date, say plainly what has not yet been reviewed, and track platform deployment — not marketing claims.
Evidence grounded in
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
Screening recommendations and grades, cited by publication date
IARC and NIOSH
Monograph 132 (occupational exposure as a firefighter, Group 1, 2022); the pooled firefighter cohort study (Daniels et al., 2014); the National Firefighter Registry
NASEM
Guidance on PFAS exposure, testing and clinical follow-up (2022)
NFPA and IAFF/IAFC
NFPA 1580 (2025) and the Wellness-Fitness Initiative medical evaluation (4th edition)
Platform milestones
Live
Exposure intake platform deployed
14
Screening entries, every claim sourced and dated
37
Public sources behind the evidence base
0
Entries clinician-reviewed so far; review is the current gate
Pilot metrics — screening uptake, referral completion, and outcome tracking — are being instrumented as department partnerships scale.
Leadership
Siddharth Shukla
Founder & Principal Researcher
Leads evidence synthesis, platform architecture, and partnership development for ThePharmaBridge.
View profile →
Advisory council
Clinical and fire service advisors are being onboarded as pilot partnerships expand. Inquiries welcome from occupational medicine and fire leadership.
Grant & institutional partnerships
ThePharmaBridge is actively pursuing foundation and federal grant opportunities to scale preventive access infrastructure for firefighters and high-risk occupational cohorts.
Join the mission
Fire departments, clinics, researchers, and funders all have a role in building this infrastructure.