Dr. Carolina Casares was just a young girl when her aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer. A member of a very tight-knit Latino family, Carolina was at the hospital when her aunt had surgery, and remained very close to her as she lived through nearly 10 years of treatment and brave suffering.

Though she was initially told she would not survive a year, Dr. Casares’ aunt lived for nearly a decade. She participated in clinical trials, talked about her disease and maintained hope. Her aunt’s determination and tenaciousness inspired Dr. Casares, who promised she would work to help find a cure for cancer. “She never gave up, and that’s what prompted me to go to medical school,” Dr. Casares says.

Treating and eventually curing cancer depends on cancer research, Dr. Casares says, with participation from people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. As a health policy analyst with the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine, Dr. Casares informs and educates people and government officials about bridging the gaps that affect the provision of good health care and prevention among all Americans.

Dr. Casares wants to be a champion for all people with cancer, to tell her aunt’s story of courage and how cancer research made a difference for her. Riding on the Team with the Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope™ is a way for her to do that. “We can all be champions,” she says. “We can all get the word out.”

For Dr. Casares, supporting her aunt through her cancer experience was a family affair. And finding better treatments is a group effort as well. “We need to educate and inform people about clinical trials and become visible so advancements can be made,” she says.