“I’m hoping for a light at the end of the tunnel—a bit of progress in the realm of eradication of cancer,” says Jorge Bacardi. “Although cancer is a chameleon, I’m afraid. As soon as we figure something out, something else changes. But I wanted to establish some sort of platform to help people through it.”
Bacardi, who is a fourth-generation member of the family known worldwide for rum production, says the same values that have made his family’s company such a success for decades are the motivating factors leading him and his wife, Leslie, to give generously to cure cancer and care for patients. They recently established the Caridad Bolivar Bacardi Research and Fellowship Training Fund in Vanderbilt’s Department of Otolaryngology in honor of his mother.
Bacardi learned about Vanderbilt’s work in head and neck cancer through Dr. Ron Eavey, the Guy M. Maness Professor and chair of otolaryngology. They first met years ago at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, where Eavey was then a resident, when Bacardi had sinus surgery.
“We bonded … and developed a strong relationship through the years,” says Bacardi. “He helped us establish a fund at Mass Eye and Ear, and later when he suggested something at Vanderbilt, I readily agreed.”
Eavey says the Bacardis’ gift is critical given today’s federal funding climate, and its flexibility for both research and training purposes has already been fruitful. Graduate student Liz Simonik received support from the fund, and has used the Head and Neck Cancer Biorepository to investigate a gene implicated in childhood leukemia that also is present in more than half of head and neck cancers.
“Because of the goodness of Jorge’s heart,” says Eavey, “Liz can continue her research, and these unknown patients are being cared about—and some will even be cured.”