From Diagnosis to Advocacy: Bonnie Addario's Work on Lung Cancer

Bonnie J. Addario rose from a corporate career in the petroleum business to become a leading patient advocate after a life-changing diagnosis. At age 56 she was diagnosed with stage IIIB lung cancer in 2004, and after intensive treatment she survived; this experience reshaped her priorities and led her to build patient services and research networks while still drawing on executive skills honed as president of Olympian Oil Company.

In 2006 she founded the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation to fund education, early detection and patient support, and in 2008 she helped establish the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute to coordinate investigator-led clinical research. Although lung cancer research had long lagged behind other cancers, her organizations have accelerated studies of biomarkers, targeted therapies and familial risk; moreover, they have promoted clinical trials that might otherwise not have been possible.

In 2019 the foundation merged with the Lung Cancer Alliance to form GO2 for Lung Cancer, where she served as co-founder and board chair and where many of her initiatives continued. Her work has been recognised by professional groups and patient communities, and she wrote The Living Room: A Lung Cancer Community of Courage, published in 2019, a collection of survivor stories that amplified patient voices.

Bonnie died on August 25, 2025 at age 77 in San Carlos, California; nevertheless, the networks and trials she helped found will continue to shape research and care for years to come. Consequently, researchers and advocates remain committed to the priorities she set today.