Valero Energy Corporation Chairman Bill Greehey announced Jan. 18 that his family foundation has contributed an unprecedented $25 million to The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. It is the single largest private gift ever received by the Health Science Center and one of the single largest cash contributions in The University of Texas System’s and San Antonio’s history.
To recognize the importance of the gift, Health Science Center officials announced that their North Campus will be renamed the Greehey Academic and Research Campus, and the Children’s Cancer Research Institute will become the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute.
The funds will be earmarked for four major initiatives: $12 million to build state-of-the-art cancer research laboratories; $5 million for the recruitment and retention of world-class clinicians and scientists who can apply the latest discoveries in patient care; $4 million for scholarships for future clinicians and scientists focused on the health of children; and $4 million for community outreach programs that support pediatric patients and their families.
“The UT Health Science Center is already recognized as one of the top health science centers in the U.S., and this gift will put the center on the path to becoming one of the very best research facilities in the world,” Greehey said.
“It will help the university recruit, develop and retain the world’s top researchers; expand support of children who suffer from cancer as well as their families; and provide the Health Science Center with additional world-class laboratories featuring the latest technology. And, these efforts will lead to breakthrough discoveries that will help save children’s lives – not just in San Antonio, but around the world,” he said.
Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., president of the Health Science Center, thanked Greehey for the contribution, and described it as a “transformational gift” that will strengthen San Antonio’s leadership as a hub of children’s health across the nation. “We are committed to making the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute our nation’s premier children’s cancer research facility that will benefit the world. Our goal is to create a future in which the words ‘children’ and ‘cancer’ are never used in the same sentence,” Dr. Cigarroa said.
Most Important Gift in UT Health Science Center’s History“This contribution is the most important gift that The University of Texas Health Science Center has ever received,” said Glenn Biggs, one of the founders of the Health Science Center’s Development Board. “The Health Science Center now has a strong foundation on which to build, and has the opportunity to leverage this gift to attain other major contributions. I have no doubt it is just the start of many great things to come for the university and for San Antonio.
“Through his many contributions to our community, Bill Greehey has truly made our city a better place to live, work and visit. And, because his gift to the Health Science Center will certainly lead to breakthrough discoveries, his good works will extend far beyond the borders of our city,” he said.
Approximately half of the gift will fund the construction of state-of-the-art laboratory space, which will be named the Greehey Cancer Laboratories. This 50,000 square feet of research space will focus on individualized molecular and immune therapies for improved treatment of children and young adults with cancer. It will enhance the full spectrum of cancer research being conducted through the San Antonio Cancer Institute and its clinical and research partners, including the military.
The labs will be housed in the South Texas Research Facility, which will be connected to the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute. The firm of Raphael Viñoly Architects has already been selected to begin design and engineering work, and construction is expected to begin in 2008.
The other major portion of the gift will fund the Greehey President’s Endowment for Excellence in Children’s Health Sciences, which will be the university’s largest private endowment. It will provide scholarships for deserving students and fellows in perpetuity, with an emphasis on research of children’s cancer and complex illnesses affecting children. According to Health Science Center officials, this gift will provide the world with new leaders in oncology and related disciplines who will make new discoveries that will save children’s lives across the globe.
The Greehey President’s Endowment also will create distinguished chairs to help the Health Science Center recruit and retain the best clinician-scientists in the world. The holders of these chairs will be leaders in fields such as pediatric oncology, hematologic malignancies and cancer genetics. Health Science Center officials believe this endowment will set the stage for Nobel Laureate scientific discovery that will have a major impact on children’s cancer and health.
In addition to the impact the gift will have on research activities, it will benefit community initiatives targeted to more than 2.5 million medically indigent children in South Texas. These efforts will focus on cancer survivorship and palliative care, and will create a Family Support Fund for children with complex chronic conditions.
A Career Based on Giving Back to the Community“This is not just a gift for the Health Science Center, this is a gift for South Texas,” said former Gov. Dolph Briscoe, who is a longstanding supporter of the Health Science Center. “I hope that other business, civic and philanthropic leaders will follow Bill Greehey’s lead, and help the Health Science Center with its mission to develop world-changing discoveries that will save lives.
“Bill Greehey has always made community service a top priority. He has shown tremendous leadership and great dedication by donating his time and money to efforts that truly help the neediest individuals in our community,” he said.
A tireless advocate for giving back to the community, Greehey announced in October 2005 that he was retiring as Valero’s CEO to focus on philanthropic endeavors. Since then, he has donated $25 million to his alma mater, St. Mary’s University, which was the largest contribution ever given to a San Antonio-area college or university. This gift established the Bill Greehey School of Business, and positioned the university to recruit top business students from around the country and attract internationally known business professors.
Greehey also has focused his attention on homelessness at the request of San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger. He is serving as Chairman of the Board of Haven for Hope of Bexar County, which is developing a one-stop center in San Antonio to provide a wide range of social services to resolve the root causes of homelessness.
During his more than 30+ years at the helm of Valero, Greehey established a unique corporate culture in which employees were encouraged to give back to their communities. In 2005, Valero employees volunteered 220,000 hours to worthy projects in their communities. They also contributed a record-breaking $12 million to the United Way with the corporate match, and raised an unprecedented $7 million through this year’s Valero Texas Open and Valero Benefit for Children Classic, earning the honor of raising the largest charitable contribution in PGA TOUR history.
Because of the company’s commitment to its communities, Valero received the “Spirit of America” Award, United Way’s highest corporate honor, in 1992 and 2003, making it one of only two companies to have received the honor twice. Also during Greehey’s tenure, Valero was consistently ranked one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune magazine, rising to No. 3 in 2005.
Click on the following links for more information:
www.uthscsa.edu/HSCNews/archive/PresidentCigarroaMessage.pdfwww.uthscsa.edu/HSCNews/archive/giftboard.pdf www.uthscsa.edu/HSCNews/archive/CCRIfactsheet.pdfwww.uthscsa.edu/HSCNews/archive/HSCfactsheet.pdf -News release written by Valero Energy CorporationAbout Valero Energy CorporationValero Energy Corporation is a Fortune 500 company based in San Antonio, with approximately 22,000 employees and annual revenues of more than $90 billion. The company owns and operates 18 refineries throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 3.3 million barrels per day, making it the largest refiner in North America. Valero is also one of the nation's largest retail operators with more than 5,500 retail and branded wholesale outlets in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean under various brand names including Valero, Diamond Shamrock, Shamrock, Ultramar, and Beacon. Please visit
www.valero.com for more information.
About The University of Texas Health Science Center at San AntonioThe University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $529 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $14.3 billion biosciences and health care industry, the leading sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $35 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 22,000 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and allied health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, allied health, dentistry and many other fields. For more information, click on
www.uthscsa.edu.
