Two Eccles family foundations are giving a combined $110 million to the University of Utah School of Medicine, a gift described by university leaders as “historic” and “transformational.”
The gift from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation includes $30 million for a new home for the university’s medical school in Salt Lake City to be named the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine. A formal announcement will occur Wednesday morning.
The gift also includes $40 million for an endowment to be used for student scholarships, recruiting of top-flight faculty and building innovative medical education programs. Another $40 million will go to further research in heart disease and cardiovascular science.
One goal of the gift is to increase the number of students the university can train as physicians. Currently, the class is limited to 125 students, but the medical school is being designed to accommodate larger cohorts, said Katie Eccles, vice chairwoman of the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation.
Increasing the number of slots requires the approval of state lawmakers as well as the medical school’s accreditors and will be gradually implemented, said University of Utah Interim President Michael Good, who is also senior vice president of University of Utah Health and executive dean of the medical school.
Good said the gift sets the course for the future of the medical school at a time the state needs more physicians, particularly in rural Utah.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22647719/merlin_2873505.jpg)
Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
As the only academic medical center in the Intermountain West, University of Utah Health provides patient care for nearly 10% of the geographic area of the continental United States, so its reach is regional, he said.
“This gift presents a unique opportunity: We will provide the most advanced education to raise new generations of health care professionals who will, in turn, improve health for our state and region. Our newly named school will join the ranks of the nation’s preeminent named institutions. We will not just adapt to the future of medicine — we will define it,” Good said in a statement.
The amount of the gift — $110 million — was selected intentionally as a nod to the long-time “giving 110%” theme at First Security Bank, led by Spencer F. Eccles until the bank’s merger with Wells Fargo in 2000.
The Eccles family foundations have a long tradition of philanthropy in Utah, particularly to public and private colleges and universities.
But the U. holds a special place in Spencer Eccles’ heart. It’s where he met his wife of more than 54 years, Cleone Peterson Eccles. She died in 2013.
Eccles, who grew up in Ogden, was an all-American on the University of Utah ski team and was active in Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
The self-described “Utah man” said he’s marveled how the university started by Brigham Young in 1850 has evolved into a world-class institution.
“This (gift) is going to assist in that evolution. That’s going to be pretty exciting for this institution,” he said.
Eccles said the $40 million endowment “spells opportunity” for students because it will fund scholarships.
“These students will not be building up all of that debt and they can get that education and start off on the right foot,” he said.
The endowment will also help the university attract world-class medical researchers and faculty who will enhance the quality of student education and advance medical science, he said.
A new medical school building will replace a 60-year-old facility, parts of which are not useable due to unreliable plumbing and heating systems.
“For as proud as I am of this medical school, it’s hard to have a great medical school in a very tired and crumbling facility,” Good said.
A new facility will enable the university to locate training programs in a single location. For example, the medical school’s gross anatomy lab is in an aging building in Research Park. Patient simulators are scattered about the campus for the lack of a single training facility with rooms built to look like delivery rooms or emergency rooms.
Ayesha Patil, a fourth-year medical student at the university, grew up in Utah and plans to further her medical education in ophthalmology.
Patil said the Eccles foundations’ gift “is really incredible. I mean the Eccles family is so well respected in Utah, even nationally. For them to give such a generous gift to the University of Utah, it’s only going to bring the ranking and the caliber of the school and the students that come out of it that much higher.”
With Utah’s population expected to grow substantially over the next 50 years, the university needs more capacity to train physicians, she said.
“This gift will hopefully be able to provide scholarships for more diverse students to attend the university,” she said.
The timing of the gift also holds special meaning for the Eccles family and the medical school. It comes 50 years after the opening of Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, named for Spencer F. Eccles’ father, also a gift to the university.
Since then, family and associated charitable foundations have supported the School of Medicine and health sciences in cardiovascular and genetics research, nursing, ophthalmology, orthopedics, pharmacology and critical care.
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/3zh6PmP
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario