Spark Discovery, Illuminate Life: At the Forefront of Science and Medicine

As of March 31, 2004, total campaign giving to the BSD and Hospitals has reached $371 million - 67% of the way to our $550 million Spark Discovery, Illuminate Life goal. Gifts to student aid, neurosciences, ophthalmology, hematology/oncology, and pediatrics were among many highlights of the past quarter:

• Joan T. Zajtchuk, SB ‘60, MD ‘66, and Rostik Zajtchuk, SB ‘60, MD ‘63, made a deferred gift to the University of Chicago, establishing Chicago as the primary beneficiary of their estate. This gift will further support a medical school scholarship fund in their name, among other BSD and College programs. Rostik Zajtchuk is a member of the Medical and Biological Sciences Alumni Association Alumni Council; they are both members of the Biological Sciences Visiting Committee.

• Department of Ophthalmology: Dr. Edward L. Katz pledged $250,000 to endow The Dewey Katz Research Fellowship Fund, named in honor of his father. Fred Richardson gifted $100,000 to support retinal transplantation research, and Abbie Lukens, SB ‘42, SM ‘46,
MD ‘50, established a gift annuity with a $100,000 gift.

• Department of Hematology/Oncology: Dr. Everett Vokes's Fund-A-Fellow Program received a pledge of $150,000 from businessman Steven B. Nakovich to support a fellow for three years. Another $50,000 gift for the Program came from the PGA Tour and was facilitated by
Dr. Linda Skoog and her husband, professional golfer Jeff Sluman. The Helen and Bernard Kozloff Family Foundation made a $250,000 gift t to found the Kozloff Family Cancer Research Endowment to support research and training for future cancer leaders.

• Norma Stone added more than $800,000 to the Norma Stone Scholarship Fund in the Pritzker School of Medicine. Ms. Stone has esta- blished an annuity fund that now totals $2.4 million.

• Hospitals Trustee Nick Pontikes gifted $150,000 to help recruit a pediatric transplant cardiologist.

Discovery and Impact: Explorations in Science and Medicine

More than 300 donors and prospective contributors learned about Chicago's groundbreaking research in the areas of prostate cancer, neurology, and paleontology at three Discovery and Impact dinners this spring.

At the inaugural event, guests got a close look at diagnosis, treatment, and research advances in prostate cancer, with presenters Charles Brendler, Arieh Shalhav, Walter Stadler, and Ralph Weichselbaum.

At Exploring the Mind: Memory and Aging, a full-capacity crowd learned about Alzheimer’s Disease and related research from Raymond Roos, James Mastrianni, Sangram Sisodia, and Ana Solodkin, and were first to hear an announcement of the Brain Research Foundation's next gift of $2 million, which will fund a new endowed professorship in the neurosciences.

The third in the series, Exploring Life on Earth: "GIANTS" at the Garfield Park Conservatory, was hosted by Visiting Committee Chair M. Roy Schwarz, his wife Connie, and Jill and John Svoboda. Faculty presenters Neil Shubin and Paul Sereno shared fossil discoveries that are redefining evolutionary theories.

For more information on Spark Discovery, Illuminate Life and on philanthropy and fundraising for the biological sciences, please call or e-mail Michele Schiele, VP and Associate Dean for Development, at 773-702-4767, mschiele@mcdmail.uchicago.edu.

A Fish Tale
A fish tale is circulating through the scientific community and popular news outlets, thanks to a recent discovery by Dr. Neil Shubin, Professor and Chair, Organismal Biology and Anatomy, Dr. Michael Coates, Associate Professor...

Heart and Mind of Patient care
The Biological Sciences Division pursues its twin missions of medical education and patient care at the unique interface between the academic world of the University of Chicago and the clinical world of the University of Chicago Hospitals...

Topping-Off Ceremony
On Friday, April 16, 2004, the BSD celebrated the completion of major steel work on the new Interdivisional Research Building with an informal topping-off ceremony...

Aims Updates
The New Research Building (NRB)
The building plan for the NRB was presented to a joint meeting of the Campus Planning & Facilities and Financial Planning Committees of the University Trustees on April 8, 2004...

DEVELOPMENT
As of March 31, 2004, total campaign giving to the BSD and Hospitals has reached $371 million - 67% of the way to our $550 million Spark Discovery, Illuminate Life goal...

EDUCATION
In today's world of biological research, quantitative analysis, modeling and prediction are playing increasingly important roles. This in turn requires a new generation of students with mastery of mathematical problem-solving...

DISCOVERIES
Wei-Jen Tang, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Ben May Institute for Cancer Research, and his team have discovered that a drug approved by the FDA for treatment of chronic hepatitis B...

FOREFRONT
The Division of the Biological Sciences is proud to announce the appointment of two new Professors and Chairmen of the Departments of Pediatrics and Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences....

ACCOLADES
Recent Awards and Grants Information for Biological Sciences Division Faculty

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
Recent Recruitemnts and Appointments of Biological Sciences Division Faculty

Dollars & Sense
The BSD financial highlights for the first eight months of fiscal year 2004.

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