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Family Foundations Add their Support
to Molecular Medicine
Gifts from four foundations support New Frontiers Campaign
Through gift commitments of $100,000 or more,
four family foundations have added their significant
support to the New Frontiers Campaign for The
Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine
for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM). The
foundations are the Stanford and Joan Alexander
Foundation, The Coneway Family Foundation, the
George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation,
and the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Family Foundation.
The $200 million New Frontiers Campaign, chaired by Beth Robertson and co-chaired by Ben
Love, has received more than $153 million in gifts
and commitments as of February 2004. Through the
campaign, The University of Texas Health Science
Center at Houston will build and equip a new building for the Brown Foundation IMM, recruit additional
scientists, and support the expansion of translational
molecular and genetic research.
“We continue to be deeply grateful for the community’s outpouring of support for this campaign,” said James T. Willerson, M.D., president of the UT Health Science Center at Houston.
“Of the chronic human diseases we are targeting through the IMM, many are inherited, affecting generations of families, so it is particularly rewarding to have family foundations such as these dedicating their resources to the research that will someday lead to the prevention of such diseases,” he said.
The Stanford and Joan Alexander Foundation’s campaign commitment will support cardiovascular stem cell research. Joan Alexander, president of the foundation, and her husband, Stanford, chairman of the foundation and of Weingarten Realty Investors, are particularly interested in helping further the stem cell studies that Willerson and his colleagues are leading in Brazil. Stanford Alexander also is a member of the UT Health Science Center Development Board.
Willerson said they hope to bring such studies into the United States and are working to acquire Food and Drug Administration approval. The current study involves treating end-stage heart disease patients with stem cells derived from their own bone marrow, and so far, results have been promising.
“Understanding the mechanisms of exactly how these stem cells can work to repair damaged heart tissue is one of many fundamental questions that the IMM aims to answer through its stem cell research,” Willerson said.
In addition to the campaign support, the Alexander Foundation has been a longtime advocate of atherosclerosis research and treatment at the Weatherhead P.E.T. Center at the UT Medical School at Houston and of PARTNERS at the UT School of Nursing at Houston.
The Coneway Family Foundation’s commitment reflects the family’s shared belief in the vision behind the IMM that the key to treating and preventing both common and complex human diseases lies in the exploration of genetic and molecular areas of medicine. It also reflects their great faith in the leadership and inspiration of Willerson, whose vision serves as the foundation for the IMM.
Established 20 years ago by Pete Coneway and his wife, Lynn, the foundation focuses on education, health care, the arts, and underprivileged communities in Houston and Texas. Today, their daughter Natalie leads the foundation, and both parents, along with their other daughter, Cecile, serve as trustees.
The Coneway Family Foundation also plays a significant philanthropic role in TexGen, a collaborative research project involving the IMM, the UT Health Science Center, the UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Baylor College of Medicine to create a repository of clinical and genetic data in the Texas Medical Center.
The Hamman Foundation’s contribution will be used to establish the George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation Distinguished Professorship in Cardiovascular Diseases at the IMM to help recruit a top scientist to join the Research Center for Cardiovascular Diseases.
Established in 1954 by Mary Josephine Milby Hamman to support education, medical research, the arts and many other community needs, the Hamman Foundation continues to fund a broad range of nonprofit organizations in Texas, particularly in the Houston area. The foundation has been a strong proponent of the Medical School’s K.I.N.D.E.R. Clinic (Kids In Need of Drug Evaluation and Rx- Treatment), which serves children exposed to drugs and/or HIV/AIDS during pregnancy.
The Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Family Foundation, led by Melvyn Wolff, chairman and chief executive officer of Star Furniture, supports medical and educational initiatives in the Houston area, in addition to other local needs. “When Dr. Jim Willerson tells you there’s a possibility of preventing disease, you believe him and want to support those efforts,” said Wolff, who is also a UT Health Science Center Development Board member. “This is a contribution we want to make to mankind.”
The Wolff Family Foundation also has made contributions to support heart disease research at the Medical School and student scholarships at the School of Nursing.
—By Amber Buckley, Development