Iberia Joins the University of Navarra to Drive Research and Facilitate the Treatment of Children Suffering from Cancer

•    The airline will donate €60,000 to contribute to bringing sick children to Spain to receive treatment.

•    One of the first beneficiaries of the agreement is Marlon Dariel, a 7-year-old child from Ecuador, who returned home after overcoming a rare congenital primary immunodeficiency.

•    The agreement was signed by the manager of the University, Álvaro Balibrea, and Beatriz Guillén, Iberia’s Director of Global Sales.

Iberia and the University of Navarra have signed an agreement to promote cancer research and facilitate the treatment of children from outside Spain. As part of this partnership, the airline will donate €60,000 to the institution, with the main purpose of paying for these children and their families to travel to Spain to receive treatment at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra.

One of the first beneficiaries of this agreement was Marlon Dariel, a 7-year-old who travelled from Ecuador to Pamplona to receive treatment for Hyper-IgM syndrome, a rare congenital primary immunodeficiency. He was treated at the Paediatric Cancer Centre of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra and received a bone marrow transplant which helped him overcome his illness. He returned home on flight IB6461 to Guayaquil with his parents and a huge personalised cake he received at Iberia’s Velázquez Premium Lounge.

Marlon Dariel is one of the many children who cannot be treated in their own countries and are brought to Spain to receive treatment at the Cancer Centre of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra.
The agreement was signed in Pamplona by the manager of the University, Álvaro Balibrea, and Beatriz Guillén, Iberia’s Director of Global Sales.

Mr Balibrea shared his happiness about the agreement and highlighted the work that the airline and the University will carry out to promote paediatric cancer research and to help children from other countries receive treatment. “Part of the mission of the University of Navarra is to disseminate knowledge and science to help society, which is one of the aims of this partnership,” he said.

Beatriz Guillén, for her part, said, “At Iberia we believe that there is a new way of flying, on the basis of purpose.” As the airline’s Director of Global Sales, she pointed out that “this is the best example of our social impact strategy and is in line with our mission to generate prosperity by connecting people with the world.”