Peer Review | The Division of Biological Sciences, University of Chicago

SUMMER 2007 | VOLUME 5 | No. 2
DEVELOPMENT

Already surpassing the $700 million mark, the University of Chicago Medical Center will celebrate the close of the fiscal year exceeding the Spark Discovery, Illuminate Life campaign goal a year in advance. These gifts support the advancement of research and patient care, help recruit prominent scientific leaders to the university and sponsor future physicians and scientists through graduate and medical education scholarships.

Notable major gifts include:

Marian Edelstein, a long-time board member of the Gastro Intestinal Research Foundation, donated $2 million to name a professorship in the area of leukemia in honor of her late husband, Arthur.
An anonymous donor gave an unrestricted $1 million gift to the Biological Sciences Division to help advance science and medicine.
The Alafi Family Foundation awarded $250,000 to the medical center to support the installation of two Stereotaxis NIOBE Magnetic Navigation System units—the latest, cutting-edge equipment used in the research, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease.
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Keiser made a three-year pledge of $250,000 to establish the Olopade Fellowship for Global Health Research. This fellowship will be led by Olufunmilayo Olopade, MD, and will support the recruitment of one or two Nigerian students each year to train at the University of Chicago in various areas of medicine, including cancer, asthma, sickle cell disease or rehabilitative medicine.
Visiting Committee member Diane Atwood and her husband, Paul Reilly, have contributed $150,000 to support Ernst Lengyel, MD, PhD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, in his research of ovarian cancer. Working together with Tony Kossiakoff, PhD, chairman of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Joseph Piccarilli, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and chemistry, Lengyel is dedicated to understanding the biology of ovarian cancer growth and dissemination, and to exploring the use of novel drugs for its treatment.

For more information about the Spark Discovery, Illuminate Life campaign or other Medical Center development news, visit http://sparkdiscovery.uchicago.edu or contact Michele Schiele, vice president and associate dean, for development at extension 2-4767 or mschiele@mcdmail.uchicago.edu.