$5 Million Anonymous Gift Boosts Stem Cell Research
HOUSTON (Jan. 27, 2005) — A $5 million gift to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston will fund cardiovascular stem cell research there and also at the Texas Heart Institute.
| James T. Willerson, MD |
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Millions of people with end-stage heart disease will reap potentially staggering benefits because of the generosity of an anonymous donor, according to James T. Willerson, M.D., president of the UT Health Science Center at Houston and president-elect of the Texas Heart Institute.
"We appreciate the generosity of this donor, their vision, and their confidence in me and in the future of stem cell research," Willerson said.
The gift is given in honor of a friend of the donor. The friend lives with acute heart disease and receives medical care from Willerson. The donation helps assure the health science center's ongoing, vital role in helping to solve one of the decade's greatest scientific challenges – saving lives by regenerating and replacing faulty cells and tissue.
Willerson said, that with the complete support of the donor, the $5 million gift will be equally divided to establish stem cell research endowments at two Texas Medical Center institutions. The health science center's Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM) will receive $2.5 million as part of the New Frontiers Campaign. The other $2.5 million will support a stem cell center at Texas Heart Institute (THI) under the direction of Willerson and Emerson Perin, M.D., Ph.D., director of New Interventional Cardiovascular Technology at THI at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital.
"This gift will help us to broaden our basic research on stem cells at the IMM, and it will help us further develop our treatment efforts in patients with coronary heart disease and severe heart failure at the Texas Heart Institute and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital," Willerson said.
Willerson, one of the world's foremost cardiovascular clinicians and researchers, holds the Edward Randall III Chair in Internal Medicine and the Alkek/Williams Distinguished Professorship. Willerson and Perin lead one of the first Food and Drug Administration-approved clinical trials to treat end-stage heart disease patients using their own bone marrow-derived stem cells.
Expressing confidence in Willerson's team of cardiovascular stem cell researchers, the donor said, "We wanted to contribute in some way to the body of knowledge concerning acute cardiovascular disease. Since Dr. Willerson is an international leader in this kind of research, we felt it an appropriate gift at a pivotal time in medical history."
According to Willerson, "This gift to the IMM and THI will help us take the next step toward preventing – and successfully treating – end-stage cardiovascular disease. Through our investigations, we hope to make a significant contribution in the battle to transform the future of medicine and to prevent and conquer cardiovascular disease."
The New Frontiers Campaign is nearing $190 million toward the $200 million goal as of January 2005. Chaired by Beth Robertson and co-chaired by Ben Love, the campaign will help build a new home for the IMM and recruit and support world-class researchers.
World-renowned cardiovascular surgeon Denton A. Cooley, MD, founded the Texas Heart Institute in 1962 for the study and treatment of diseases of the heart and blood vessels. Together with the Institute's clinical partner, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, it has been ranked among the nation's top ten heart centers in an annual survey published by U.S. News & World Report for the past 14 years. For more information about the Institute, please visit www.texasheartinstitute.org.
St. Luke's was founded in 1954 by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. St. Luke's is home to the world-renowned Texas Heart Institute, founded in 1962. In 2001, St. Luke's earned the Magnet designation, the highest honor in patient care. It is the first hospital in Texas and the Southwest to be so honored. For more information about the hospital, please visit www.stlukestexas.com
Directed by Nobel laureate Ferid Murad, M.D., Ph.D., the Brown Foundation IMM includes five disease-targeted research centers: human genetics, cardiovascular diseases, protein chemistry, cell signaling, and immunology and autoimmune diseases. The IMM's new 223,000-square-foot building is scheduled to open in 2005 on Pressler Street in the Texas Medical Cent
