Brown Foundation gives $1 million for Center for Aging Studies building
Ewing Halsell Foundation grants additional funds
to host world-renowned scientific lecturers
Dentist donates real estate to HSC Dental School
Endowment honors Forland, parents’ ideal
Brown Foundation gives $1 million
for Center for Aging Studies building
The Brown Foundation, Inc. has awarded $1 million to the Health Science Center for the newly planned Center for Aging Studies.
The approximately 80,000-square-foot building will allow leading investigators in the field of aging research to gather in one environment and focus their efforts on identifying genes involved in longevity and a healthy life span.
"Since arriving nine years ago at the Health Science Center, I have been diligently working toward creating a center for the AREC [Aging Research and Education Center]," said Arlan G. Richardson, Ph.D., director of the AREC. "The Brown Foundation’s grant brings us that much closer to the ground breaking." Dr. Richardson, professor of physiology, holds the Methodist Hospital Foundation Chair in Aging Studies and Research.
The Health Science Center’s aging program has 145 faculty members participating from all schools. The researchers have made major discoveries in nutrition and aging, the molecular genetics of aging and health care issues of elderly Mexican-Americans.
The gift will allow the AREC to plan and design a new facility adjacent to the new South Texas Centers for Biology in Medicine currently under construction. (See story on page 26.)
"The Brown Foundation will enable our scientists to carry on the important work of the Aging Research and Education Center," said John P. Howe, III, M.D., president of the Health Science Center. "We look forward to the exciting discoveries that will result from research conducted in the new facility."
The Brown Foundation, Inc. was founded in July 1951 by Herman and Margarett Root Brown and George R. and Alice Pratt Brown.
Ewing Halsell Foundation grants additional funds
to host world-renowned scientific lecturers
The Ewing Halsell Foundation has granted an additional $50,000 for the Health Science Center’s lecture series endowment fund. The lectureship endowment was established by the foundation in 1975 and has sponsored 14 lectures since then.
The endowment has allowed the Health Science Center to bring an array of world-renowned scientists to San Antonio to share their extensive knowledge and discoveries with faculty, students and staff, as well as with the medical community.
Guest lecturers have included Dr. Albert Sabin, developer of the Sabin oral vaccine for polio; Dr. Rosalyn Yalow, a medical physicist and first woman to receive the Albert Lasker Award in Basic Medical Research; Dr. Roger C. L. Guillemin, Nobel Prize recipient and brain researcher; Dr. Luc Montagnier, chief of the virology department at the Pasteur Institute in Paris; and Dr. Max Ferdinand Perutz, recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1962.
Ewing Halsell established the Ewing Halsell Foundation in 1957, a decade before his death. He and his wife, Lucile, set up the foundation to improve the quality of life for Texans by providing accessibility to the arts, education and health care, and by providing more opportunities for the economically disadvantaged.
Dentist donates real estate to HSC Dental School
Col. William F. Partridge, D.D.S., recently donated property to the Dental School. Col. Partridge is Chief of the Dental Clinic at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas."Col. Partridge made the donation because it was an opportunity to support the things he loves most—dentistry, Texas, and the fact that he has had a good military career," said Elaine M. Neenan, D.D.S., associate dean for external affairs in the Dental School. "Since there are many military installations in San Antonio, he thought the right place to support would be the Dental School.
"He also knows people who teach here who were in the Army," added Dr. Neenan. Col. Partridge is a resident of Belton, Texas.
The donation was made in the form of a deferred gift annuity.
Endowment honors Forland, parents’ ideals
Throughout their lives, Ellinor and Gerhard’s parents taught them, through example, respect for the individual and commitment to the community. Both parents enjoyed successful careers, which provided them the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to their community.
Now, more than 60 years since arriving in this country, Ellinor and Gerhard memorialize their parents by establishing an endowment in their names at the Health Science Center. The endowment is in memory of their parents and, at their mother’s directive, also honors Ellinor’s husband, Marvin Forland, M.D., professor of medicine and associate dean for clinical affairs in the Medical School. Dr. Forland is one of the original faculty members of the school. This year he received the prestigious Laureate Award from the Texas Academy Chapter of the American College of Physicians--American Society of Internal Medicine.
The Hans and Charlotte Salinger Endowment for the Center for Ethics and the Humanities in Health Care in honor of Marvin Forland, M.D. supports the work of the center, which is dedicated to raising the visibility of ethics and humanities at the Health Science Center. The center sponsors bimonthly journal clubs for faculty, quarterly seminars for practicing health professionals and summer research internships for students.
By creating the endowment, the Salinger children are able to continue their parents’ commitment to the community.
Dr. and Mrs. Salinger were active community builders and concerned about the ethical application of scientific discoveries. Hans Salinger, Ph.D., a physicist who taught at the University of Berlin, became an associate of Philo T. Farnsworth and worked to develop television and other electronic technologies until his death in 1965.
Mrs. Salinger was a staff therapist of the Fort Wayne Child Guidance Center from 1956 to 1981 and continued in private practice until 1994 when she retired at the age of 85. She was active in community affairs including civil rights, adoption processes and women’s issues. She was founder of Fort Wayne’s SCAN (Stop Child Abuse and Neglect) agency. Her commitment to improving quality of life and community development continued until her death in 1996.
Her daughter, Ellinor, has followed in her mother’s footsteps. She serves as the executive director of CASA (Child Advocates San Antonio). Her son, Gerhard, became a physicist and taught for many years at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. He now serves as project officer at the National Science Foundation.
"The Salinger-Forland Endowment will become the cornerstone for an active, expert teaching program in the nontechnical, humanistic aspects of patient care," said Henry S. Perkins, M.D., professor of medicine and the center’s interim director.
"Graduating health profession students have acquired excellent technical knowledge, but acquiring skill in the nontechnical, humanistic aspects of patient care requires concerted effort for a lifetime," he added. "Ethics and the humanities 'humanize’ patient care. They enable us to perceive the unique response of each human being to his or her illnesses.
"All of us on campus are fortunate that the Salingers and Forlands have made such a generous commitment to health care education. They believe that an active involvement with ethics and the humanities is essential for all health care professionals. Exposure to these disciplines should begin in professional school and continue throughout practice. The Forlands and the Salingers have lived this ideal and now make it available to everyone at the Health Science Center."
