As a longtime teacher and school librarian who was married to a school counselor, Deanna LaCamera knew how important education is to a student’s future career.
When Deanna was diagnosed with an aggressive lung cancer in December 2018, she decided that she would leave money behind for a very specific educational purpose: to help cancer-focused medical students, residents, and fellows in the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine attend medical conferences to further their education and professional development.
Deanna died in January 2019, and the Deanna E. LaCamera Oncology Fellows Support and Educational Enrichment Fund in the CU Anschutz Cancer Center was created later that year.
“That’s exactly the kind of person she was,” says Deanna’s husband, Joe, who lives in Boulder. “It's very rewarding for me to know that this money is being used properly.”
Paying it forward
For Deanna, whose first husband, Don Bartkowiak, also died of cancer, it was a fitting way of giving back to the cancer doctors who cared for her and Don, and of helping the next generation of cancer doctors realize their potential.
“Don was my best friend, and he died of lymphoma when he was 36 years old,” Joe says. “It was an issue that Deanna had strong feelings about for a long time.”
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Deanna came with Don to Boulder in 1965, where the couple got to know Joe through their studies at CU Boulder, where Joe worked in student housing. Deanna and Joe were married in 1972, and after retiring in 1992 from the Loveland school district in Loveland, Colorado, they taught in international schools in Monterrey, Mexico, and Kathmandu, Nepal. The couple later spent time traveling to Bali, Thailand, Cambodia, Britain, Europe, Russia, Israel, New Zealand, Cuba, Iceland, and Central and South America.
Deanna and Joe LaCamera during a trip to Paris.
“Deanna traveled to many different countries, meeting and interacting with new people and old friends,” Joe says. “She also enjoyed reading, attending lectures, and, as a former violinist who played with the University of Wisconsin orchestra, she liked going to concerts.”
Philanthropy in action
Fourth-year CU Anschutz medical student Lucas Eggers is one recent grantee of the Deanna E. LaCamera Oncology Fellows Support and Educational Enrichment Fund—he used the money to attend the American Academy of Otolaryngology’s annual meeting in Los Angeles in October 2026.
“It means the world to me,” Eggers says of receiving the grant. “Knowing that I'm supported and have the financial freedom to go out there and present work that I'm really proud of is very meaningful. I'm still a student trying to find my place in this world and earn a spot in the competitive field of otolaryngology, so the opportunity to network with other ENTs is also very valuable.”
At the conference, Eggers presented his research on cachexia—or wasting syndrome—in patients with head and neck cancer.
“I presented a decade’s worth of head and neck cancer data, looking at preoperative biomarkers and imaging analysis of patients with head and neck cancer cachexia, seeing if we can discover associations with poor postoperative outcomes,” says Eggers, who conducted his research in the cachexia lab run by cancer center member Andrea Bonetto, PhD.
Lucas Eggers presenting his research.
Eggers says the grant from the Deanna LaCamera fund is especially meaningful because of its focus on advancing the careers of trainees who plan to go on to treat cancer.
“I have a longstanding history of taking care of cancer patients from when I was a certified nursing assistant prior to starting med school,” says Eggers, who also received a LaCamera fund grant in 2024. “Especially with the money coming from the cancer center and the generous donation from the LaCamera family—having their support and being able to represent an institution greater than myself means a great deal to me.”
Investment in the future
Eggers is one of many students who have benefited from the Deanna LaCamera fund since its establishment in 2019. The fund has supported 10 students every year who present at oncology conferences.
“Through this fund, Deanna's legacy lives on by giving the next generation of cancer researchers and doctors access to opportunities that they otherwise would not have. They are able to share the great work they are doing in Colorado with those around the world but also learn from many others sharing their expertise and research at these conferences,” says Adela Cota-Gomez, assistant director of Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination (CRTEC) at the CU Anschutz Cancer Center. “It is an investment not only in individual careers, but in the future of cancer medicine.”
