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Leading the Way to a Healthier World

Aging: Pursuing New Approaches to Living Longer and Better

At the Institute on Aging, pathbreaking work on the role of proteins in Alzheimer’s disease is one of the ways John Trojanowski and Virginia Lee (right) are shaping the boundaries of this increasingly important field. “Aging is one of the most important challenges of our millennium,” says Trojanowski, MD, PhD, William Maul Measey-Truman G. Schnabel, Jr., MD, Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology. “We are in the midst of a longevity revolution.”

Some of the research at the Institute and the Center for Neurodegenerative Research has been funded by a $6 million gift from the Ware family to establish the Marian S. Ware Alzheimer Program. “Without the need to satisfy shareholders, academic researchers can take risks,” says Lee, PhD, MBA, who is The John H. Ware III Professor in Alzheimer’s Research. “Donors like Marian Ware see the big picture and invest in innovative clinical trials that companies or public agencies would not support.”

In addition to recognizing the work of outstanding faculty members, endowed professorships provide the seed money for early research and support educational initiatives that often fall outside grant funding. “There is no shortage of important ideas to pursue, but most novel projects struggle to get funding,” says Trojanowski. “Endowed chairs allow you to pursue an idea with great alacrity. I never thought that in my lifetime we would be seeing the impact of our research on patients and their families, but we are. It is incredibly exciting.”

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CREATE KNOWLEDGE
GOAL: $120 MILLION

Create endowed professorships

The campaign will establish 40 endowed professorships that will allow us to attract and retain the best faculty and support their most innovative work.