Recent Grants
The following examples of recently awarded grants illustrate the breadth and significance of foundation-supported work at Duke University Medical Center (DUMC).
Mandel gift funds hypertension and atherosclerosis research
A commitment of over $2 million from the Edna and Fred L. Mandel Jr. Foundation will support Duke research on the causes and treatment of atherosclerosis and hypertension, as well as collaboration among scientists at Duke and other medical centers. An initial $750,000 grant has established the Mandel Center for Hypertension and Atherosclerosis at Duke and is renewable for an additional two years. Senior Investigator Awards went to Victor J. Dzau, MD, James B. Duke Professor of Medicine and chancellor for health affairs; Thomas Coffman, MD, chief of nephrology; Laura Schanberg, MD, associate professor of pediatrics in rheumatology; and the team of Michelle Winn, MD, assistant professor of medicine in nephrology, and Paul Rosenberg, MD, assistant professor of medicine in cardiology. A separate Young Investigator Award went to Thomas Povsic, MD, assistant professor of medicine in cardiology, to study the cells that repair damage in atherosclerosis and their possible use in predicting heart attack and stroke risk. To increase scientific collaboration among scientists at Duke and other research institutions, the Mandel Center will offer monthly seminars at Duke beginning in May 2007, and later an off-campus scientific retreat.
Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust
Through a $175,000 grant, the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust is supporting Duke's Peer Education Training Sites (PETS) program. The program provides participatory, non-literacy dependent, education to peer counselors in rural communities and provides basic AIDS education, support, and outreach to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The objectives are: (1) to instill a basic understanding of HIV, risk behaviors, transmission, co-infections, and treatments; (2) to improve participants' health literacy and ability to self-advocate as well as to help other PLWHAs through advocacy, public speaking, and voluntary or paid work experiences within HIV organizations or other work places; (3) to improve medical adherence; and (4) to decrease recidivism rates in substance abuse treatment facilities and in jail.
Fannie E. Rippel Foundation
The Fannie E. Rippel Foundation made a $300,000, two-year grant to establish a foundation for an Integrative Medicine Research Institute at Duke. The purpose of the Institute, housed within Duke Integrative Medicine, is to conduct and facilitate leading edge research in Integrative Medicine that, through its application of findings in clinical practice, leads to pioneering new models of patient care . The mission of the Integrative Medicine Research Institute is to improve medical care and health outcomes for patients by promoting rigorous scientific research in Integrative Medicine, advancing research findings into clinical application, and disseminating the resulting new evidence-based Integrative Medicine methods and protocols to the international medical community.
Mary Duke Biddle Foundation
By the time they are 18 years of age, roughly 15% of adolescents will face at least one episode of clinically significant depression. Unfortunately, in a given year, less than 25% of these will receive any specialized care. The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation made a $25,000 gift to launch a pilot series of internet-based, one-hour interactive programs on clinically relevant, evidence-based, pediatric mental illness topics. The target audience is pediatricians who are on the front-line diagnosing and in many cases treating complicated child mental illnesses. The focus of the discussions will be on recognition of, and state-of-the-art treatments for, each of the most common pediatric mental illnesses: depression, anxiety, ADHD, disruptive behaviors, autistic spectrum disorders, and substance abuse. The internet-based, interactive series should reach more than 1,000 pediatricians during any given program.
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