Press Release

Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation Makes $15,000 Donation to Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute

The national, virtual lung cancer institute is dedicated to accelerating the discovery, development, and delivery of new and more efficient treatment options for lung cancer patients.

March 17th, 2009 (Atlanta, GA) Today, The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation announced their first donation explicitly geared toward lung cancer treatment research.  The foundation is donating $15,000 to the newly-created Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI).

ALCMI was established by lung cancer survivor Bonnie J. Addario in 2008.  A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, it was created to be a national, virtual lung cancer institute – an honest third-party broker that will develop and direct high-quality tissue specimen repositories, data systems, and foster collaboration.

“Our mission statement includes advocating for research,” said foundation president Joe Gaeta.  “We believe that ALCMI and its collaboration model will advance the research and treatment of lung cancer and finally begin to increase the survival rate of this horrible disease – a survival rate that has remained virtually unchanged for nearly 40 years.  We are extremely confident that ALCMI is the single-best use of our research funds.”

“We are eternally grateful to the Gaeta foundation for their extremely generous donation and, more importantly, for their historic endorsement and partnership with ALCMI,” said ALCMI founder, Bonnie Addario.  “Thanks to donations like this, we move one step closer to increasing the survival rate of lung cancer.  We are so very happy to have the Gaetas join us in our common fight.”

The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation is grateful for all of their donors who have supported them since their inception in the fall of 2007.  “Without the generosity of our supporters, we could not have made this investment in the future of lung cancer research.  We thank each and every one of them,” said Joe Gaeta.

About The Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute

Concerned by the continued lack of meaningful progress against Lung Cancer, in 2006-2007, the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation assembled the field’s foremost researchers, clinicians, and business leaders from academic and community medical centers, biopharmaceutical companies, and the investment community in order to ask a fundamental question: “If money for research and development was not a barrier, and a true collaboration could be achieved, what would you require to achieve a cure for Lung Cancer in the least amount of time?”

The overwhelming consensus response was to establish a national, virtual Lung Cancer institute—an honest third-party broker that would develop and direct high-quality tissue specimen repositories, data systems, and fostered collaborations. As a result, Lung Cancer survivor Bonnie J. Addario established the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI) in 2008 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

ALCMI is dedicated to catalyzing and accelerating the discovery, development and delivery of new and more effective treatment options for Lung Cancer patients. 

Contact: Tony Addario, CEO, tony@lungcancerfoundation.org or Sheila Von Driska, Secretary, svondriska@alcmi.net

About The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation

Established in the fall of 2007, The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation was created to raise awareness, to educate the public, and to be an advocate for research. They also strive to eliminate the stigma of lung cancer and support survivors and their loved ones in our local community.

A life long non-smoker, Joan Gaeta was a devoted wife, teacher, and mother of five. Diagnosed in early 2004, she fought a three and a half year battle before succumbing to the cancer in July of 2007.

Contact:  Joe Gaeta, President, (404) 435-7376, gaetafoundation@gmail.com.