SCRANTON, PA — The Board of Ambassadors will honor John “Slick” Baum as the 2025 Tribute to Courage honoree at the upcoming Spirit of Hope Celebration, benefiting the cancer screening navigation program at the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute (NRCI). The event is set for Friday, November 14 at Mohegan Pennsylvania.

Baum is a retired USAF lieutenant colonel, entrepreneur, philanthropist and more. He enlisted in the USAF at age 17, serving as an avionics maintenance technician. He then attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, graduating with a master’s degree in aeronautical science in 2008.

Col. Baum attended Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training and graduated from F-16 training as the Distinguished Graduate. He then attended the USAF Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun) and returned as an instructor. He was then requested by the commander of Air Combat Command to fly as a demonstration pilot for the 2009-2010 Thunderbird team. Following the Thunderbirds, he was selected as a secretary of the Air Force Strategic Communications Fellow and later provided high-G flight training for the crew of Inspiration4, the first all-civilian space program in partnership with SpaceX, and then served as the philanthropy director for the Polaris Program.

The Board of Ambassadors is a group of individuals and business leaders in northeast Pennsylvania who have come together to raise funds and awareness to fight cancer in the local community through their support and promotion of a gala event.

The NRCI’s cancer-screening program helps individuals in northeast Pennsylvania get their recommended colorectal, breast, cervical and lung cancer screenings.

For more information about the upcoming Spirit of Hope celebration, call the Cancer Institute at 570/904-8808 or visit www.spiritofhopecelebration.org