About The Foundation
The Brave Ronil Foundation was created to honor the strength of children impacted by DIPG while supporting families through research, advocacy, and care.
Our story: In January 2016, our son Ronil was diagnosed with DIPG. He was 12.
The challenge: DIPG has no cure. The prognosis has not changed in 50 years, and it receives a fraction of the research funding it needs.
What we built: Ronil donated his tumor to Stanford Hospital for research, and we built this foundation to carry his legacy forward by supporting families and raising awareness.
Mission Statement
The Brave Ronil Foundation exists so that no family faces DIPG alone. We are working to fund promising research and clinical trials, support families through diagnosis and treatment, and raise awareness in our communities so future families have hope where today there is none.
Co-Founder and President — Milan Mehta
Milan Mehta
Co-Founder & President
Milan Mehta is the Co-Founder and President of the Brave Ronil Foundation. After his son Ronil’s 31-month battle with DIPG, Milan dedicated himself to ensuring no family faces this disease alone. A Bay Area resident originally from India, Milan brings leadership experience from the technology industry and a relentless drive to fund research, support families, and raise awareness for pediatric brain cancer.
Manisha Modi Mehta
Co-Founder & Chief Financial Officer
Manisha Mehta is the Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer of the Brave Ronil Foundation. Manisha brings professional expertise from her career as a leading technology professional in the banking industry. Since losing her son Ronil to DIPG, Manisha has been a driving force behind the foundation, working to advance pediatric brain cancer research, strengthen support for DIPG families, and bring greater visibility to a disease that has gone overlooked for too long.
Elizabeth Motahari
Director of Operations
Liz Motahari is a homeschool educator who supports youth in her local community through a variety of volunteer leadership positions. She has been an active adult leader in Scouts BSA for nearly a decade, and it was through that program that she came to know the Mehta family and their story. Her belief in the power of community fuels her optimism for a future in which even the rarest childhood cancers will be curable.
Anand Tamboli
Director of Strategy
Anand is a Senior Director of Enterprise Applications at Rosendin Electric, where he has led business and technology operations for over 18 years. He has been a close friend of the Mehta family and a pioneer in supporting charitable causes for pediatric cancer for over 10 years. Anand is helping BRF build its strategic vision to expand research funding and bring measurable impact to children and families affected by DIPG.
Michelle Monje, MD, PhD
Medical Advisory Board
Dr. Michelle Monje is the Milan Gambhir Professor of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology at Stanford University and a pioneer of “cancer neuroscience,” whose lab has reshaped how the world understands and treats DIPG and DMG. A pediatric neuro-oncologist at Stanford, she is a MacArthur Fellow, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a 2025 recipient of The Brain Prize. It was Dr. Monje’s laboratory that received and studied Ronil’s donated tumor.
Sahil Mehta
Team Member
Ronil's younger brother. Sahil turned his family's loss into action: as an American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Legislative Ambassador, he initiated and helped pass California's AB 703, creating the state's first voluntary tax check-off for childhood cancer research. He founded his high school's Childhood Cancer Crusaders club, where he held the first-ever Relay For Life to raise funds for pediatric cancer and continues advocating to expand pediatric cancer research funding. Sahil is pursuing his Bachelor's in Design at Carnegie Mellon University.
Priya Kothari
Team Member
Priya Kothari is a dedicated Customer Service Representative at C-Hawk Technology and a longtime friend and supporter of the Mehta family. For more than 10 years, Priya has been deeply committed to supporting charitable initiatives that benefit children and families affected by pediatric cancer. Her compassion and dedication to giving back have inspired her to actively support the Brave Ronil Foundation and contribute to fundraising efforts that help advance the foundation's mission. Priya is proud to lend her time, relationships, and support to the Brave Ronil Foundation.
Rajul Shah
Team Member
Rajul Shah is a proud mother of two, a dedicated business leader, and a passionate advocate for giving back. As VP of Operations and owner of Rajul Shah Realtors, she brings strong leadership and a people-first approach to everything she does. A longtime Bay Area resident, Rajul is deeply committed to the cancer community, driven by the belief that no family should have to face cancer alone. Through advocacy, community involvement, and fundraising, she works to bring greater awareness, resources, and hope to patients and families. Rajul is honored to support the Brave Ronil Foundation and lend her time, energy, and voice toward better outcomes for those affected by cancer.
Nirav Sheth
Team Member
Nirav Sheth is a seasoned technology executive, a people-first leader, and a passionate believer in giving back. A longtime Bay Area resident, he has spent more than two decades building and leading global teams at some of the industry's most respected companies, always guided by a simple philosophy: take care of people, and they will take care of everything else. That same belief drives his commitment to the cancer community and to families facing childhood illness. Nirav is honored to support the Brave Ronil Foundation, lending his leadership, relationships, and energy to help advance its mission of research, family support, and hope for children affected by DIPG.
Your support helps fund research, support families, and raise awareness for children battling DIPG
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