{"id":764,"date":"2026-05-20T20:01:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T20:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=764"},"modified":"2026-05-20T20:01:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T20:01:44","slug":"philanthropist-donates-100m-to-baptist-health-what-it-means-for-cancer-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=764","title":{"rendered":"Philanthropist donates $100M to Baptist Health. What it means for cancer care"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n

Billionaire and philanthropist Dr. Herbert \u201cHerbie\u201d Wertheim has donated $100 million to Baptist Health South Florida to expand cancer research, treatment and prevention efforts.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Execute him\u2019: Cuban Americans in South Florida celebrate Raul Castro indictment<\/a><\/p>\n

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The gift \u2014 the largest single donation in Baptist Health\u2019s 66-year history \u2014 will support expanded services at the Miami Cancer Institute and strengthen the not-for-profit hospital system\u2019s cancer care network, hospital leaders said Wednesday morning at a press conference. The institute will be renamed the Baptist Health Herbert Wertheim Cancer Institute in his honor.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat a wonderful, exciting moment in the history of Miami,\u201d said Bo Boulenger, president and CEO of Baptist Health South Florida. \u201cIt\u2019s a transformational gift for cancer care. We\u2019re going to do extraordinary things with this gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The donation establishes the Herbert Wertheim Cancer Institute Transformational Impact Fund, a $100 million initiative dedicated to advancing cancer care, research, education and prevention across Baptist Health.<\/p>\n

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Wertheim, who turns 87 on Saturday, said he hopes the contribution will have a lasting impact.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy goal is to be able to do whatever I can to be transformative,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hospital leaders said they are placing a strong emphasis on cancer prevention with the gift, establishing the Dr. Herbert Wertheim Center for Cancer Prevention, which will focus on early detection, screening technology and community-based prevention programs.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alexandra Villoch, CEO of Baptist Health Foundation, is a breast cancer survivor and was diagnosed with aggressive invasive lobular carcinoma at age 45 \u2014 once considered unusually young for the disease. But rates of breast cancer have been increasing slowly among women younger than 45 in all racial and ethnic groups.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBack then, 45, I was an outlier,\u201d Villoch said. \u201cToday we are seeing women as young as 17 with breast cancer. We really need to focus on prevention and understanding what is happening and how we can help young women and men.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The funding comes as cancer diagnoses continue to rise among younger patients, including breast cancer in women under 40 and colorectal cancer, a leading cause of cancer deaths in adults under 50.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I want is a world where my daughter never gets a diagnosis that I\u2019ve received,\u201d Villoch said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wertheim\u2019s gift will also strengthen Baptist Health Research\u2019s partnership with Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, which was named in Wertheim\u2019s honor in 2009 after he and his late ex-wife, Nicole, donated $20 million to the medical school.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s really kind of pulling the pieces together to create the groundwork of something important,\u201d said Juan C. Cendan, dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and senior vice president for health affairs at FIU. \u201cWe hope the donation will create a lot of joint research opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

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FIU leaders say the partnership will expand training and professional development opportunities for medical students.<\/p>\n

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Cendan says the investment will \u201cpush the cart forward\u201d for the young medical school.<\/p>\n

Read more The dream lover who turned out to be a Castro spy after Cuba shoot-down<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cOur medical school is only 16 years old,\u201d said Cendan. \u201cIt takes a long time to build a medical school to the impact of the University of Florida and Vanderbilt. It takes a lot of investment. It takes a lot of time to develop the infrastructure. These kinds of direct commitments to support advances many years at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Wertheim\u2019s gift surpasses the $50 million donation that Citadel CEO Ken Griffin made to Baptist Health in 2024 to support research and patient care for Alzheimer\u2019s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. At the time, it marked the largest single donation in the health system\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Baptist Health recently received another significant donation from philanthropists Al and Jane Nahmad, though hospital leaders declined to disclose the amount. The hospital\u2019s future Women\u2019s Cancer Center \u2014 expected to open in 2027 \u2014 will bear their name and provide specialized care for patients with breast, gynecologic and skin cancers.<\/p>\n

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Since opening in 2017, Baptist Health\u2019s cancer institute has become one of Florida\u2019s largest cancer programs and ranks among the top 10% nationally, according to the U.S. News & World Report.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The hospital has also been recognized as high-performing by U.S. News & World Report for its care in surgeries for lung cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer and gynecologic cancer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The man behind the gift<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

When Wertheim stepped onstage at Baptist Health in Kendall to address the crowd of more than 300 people \u2014 many of them wearing his trademark bright-red fedora \u2014 he paused to do a brief dance.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBecause I\u2019m so happy to be here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The philanthropist was born in Philadelphia but raised in South Beach during World War II.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The optometrist first gained recognition in 1969 for pioneering ultraviolet (UV) and blue-light\u2013absorbing lens technology, which has helped reduce the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration worldwide. Meanwhile, he was growing his fortune in stock investments. He later founded Brain Power Inc., a Miami-based optical products manufacturer considered one of the world\u2019s largest producers of optical tints.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

With a net worth of $4.3 billion, Wertheim has spent decades through the Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Family Foundation giving back to communities. His first recorded donation was $100 to the Boy Scouts of America.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Since 1996, the Wertheim family has donated tens of millions to Florida International University, supporting the performing arts center, nursing school and medical school. Last year, he also gave $65 million to Florida State University\u2019s College of Business.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in education,\u201d he said. \u201cI was a ninth-grade high school dropout, joined the Navy and came out of the state reformatory. Education is everything. They taught me physics, chemistry and electronics and made me a whole person.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As the conference concluded, attendees sang \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d to Wertheim.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a defining moment for our organization,\u201d Boulenger said in his speech. \u201cIt\u2019s a defining moment for the future of cancer care in this community across the country, and really the world, because we lead the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Morning dog walk led to a knife in the eye for unsuspecting woman, report says<\/a><\/p>\n

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