Orthopaedic Seminar Institute

Fondazione Raffaella Becagli Onlus FIRMO

Viale G. Milton, 49
50129 Florence - Italy
Tel: +39.055.493.10.63 Fax: +39.055.468.44.40

A private no-profit agency dedicated by the Becagli family to a daughter lost too young, to be remembered by means of an ambitious effort: an alliance including universities and industries, government and research centres and agencies to eradicate bone diseases (Corriere della Sera 05/10/2006)

F.I.R.M.O. Fondazione Raffaella Becagli is a unique example of a private non profit organization that recognizes as a priority the prevention and cure of skeletal diseases.
Regardless of the fact that numerous people are affected by bone diseases, the knowledge and awareness of these disorders is limited, and often doctors are not able to recognize them and the funds for research are very low. There was an absolute need to intervene. It is through this belief that on February 20th 2006 F.I.R.M.O. Fondazione Raffaella Becagli was founded.
The Foundation has been dedicated by the Becagli family to Raffaella in order to remember through a beneficial and worthy deed her recent tragic loss.
The Foundation has posed itself an ambitious objective: to defeat and overcome bone diseases.
In order for this to occur, the Foundation will create strategic alliances with patients, medical and scientific organizations, delegated agencies for the public health, universities, researchers, and industries. The battle against bone diseases is a collective movement which gains more and more approval every day.
The Committee of the Scientific Partners and that of the
Institutional and Industrial Partners will represent the key elements for the growth of the Foundation.
It is the founders belief that Raffaella would have immediately approved the cause of those who, weak and without certainties, try to find an answer. In the name of a person so rich of feelings and always inclined to help, the Foundation will make the problems that affect so many people, which lack of the due consideration, to finally come to surface.
Innovative therapies and diagnoses will be supported by the Foundation in the years to come.

Millions of people in Italy live with bone pain and disability caused by skeletal diseases. Yet most of these disorders could have been prevented and cured.
As President of F.I.R.M.O. Fondazione Raffaella Becagli, I am acutely aware that in order to reduce the impact of bone diseases we urgently need to increase the public awareness of these disorders and the visibility of the Foundation. Not only does increased visibility lead to further awareness, but it is also essential for fund raising work to support important research and educational programs in Italy.
Indeed, I look forward to help publicize the Foundation and its important activities. I will work to encourage corporate and institutional partners in Italy to join the organization of F.I.R.M.O. Fondazione Raffaella Becagli, thus helping the Foundation in its efforts to fight skeletal diseases.
The future years will bring many challenges for the Foundation.
New sources of support must be found and public awareness expanded. There is still a long way to go before adequate prevention, detection and treatment standard of bone disorders are achieved in Italy.
Together we can build a world of people with healthy bones.

Maria Luisa Brandi
President F.I.R.M.O. Fondazione Raffaella Becagli

The Foundation is a non profit organization that has as primary objective the possibility to carry out innovative research regarding the diagnosis and the treatment of skeletal diseases, making the best of the potential knowledge and of the institutions present in Italy at the academic, industrial, clinical, and financial levels.

The initiative pursues the following objectives as its priority:

Attract investments, resources, and talents, contributing to the growth of innovative research in Italy.
Promote the transfer of technologic resources from the research structures to the firms.
Promote training of healthcare professionals with the use of lessons, masters, lectures, and publications.
Increase public awareness through national campaigns.
Develop programs aimed to promote the knowledge of patients at all ages in order to reduce the gap between science and society.