An estate gift of nearly $800,000 from Bernice L. and Harold B. Belfer has been directed to UCLA Stein Eye Institute to establish the Harold B. Belfer Fund and provide Dr. Bartly J. Mondino, director of Stein Eye, with unrestricted funding. Bernice Belfer served as Dr. Jules Stein’s executive secretary and personal assistant in the 1960s and 1970s, and Harold Belfer was a choreographer at Universal Studios. The couple’s close friendship with Dr. Stein inspired them to make this significant commitment.
Hyundai Hope On Wheels, Hyundai Motor America’s nonprofit organization committed to helping kids fight cancer, and Los Angeles-area Hyundai dealers awarded Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA with a $250,000 Hyundai Scholar Grant for pediatric-cancer research. The funds will support the work of Dr. Satiro De Oliveira and his efforts to find new strategies to treat non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the fifth most common pediatric cancer with a less than 50-percent chance of a cure for relapsed cases or those resistant to treatment. Hyundai Hope On Wheels presented the check in September during National Childhood Cancer Awareness month.
Dr. Stanley G. Korenman, UCLA distinguished professor of medicine and associate dean for ethics, and Ann M. Pollack, UCLA assistant vice chancellor for research, have made a new five-year pledge to the UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) in support of the Stanley Korenman Lecture. Headlining the annual MSTP Research Retreat, the lecture brings to the campus world-renowned scientists who, in addition to making outstanding presentations, engage with students and faculty. In 1983, Dr. Korenman founded the UCLA-Caltech MSTP — a premier program for combined MD-PhD training that prepares leaders in the biomedical and sociomedical sciences. More than 250 students have participated in this outstanding program.
The Shaffer Family Foundation has made two gifts totaling $485,000 directed to the UCLA Division of Nephrology and the Department of Urology. One gift will support Dr. Anjay Rastogi (RES ’03, PHD ’04, FEL ’05) and his team’s clinical research on recurrent urinary-tract infections in the Division of Nephrology. This gift also will provide for the development of educational tools to better train physicians on how to correctly diagnose and treat this condition. The second gift will enable Dr. Chad Baxter (FEL ’10), a member of the UCLA Division of Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, to acquire and receive training on a state-of-the- art CO2 laser-delivery system that will expand treatment options and improve the quality of life for women with urologic and pelvic conditions. The Shaffer Family Foundation also generously supports the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center.
The UCLA Division of Geriatrics received a $950,000 donation from Joann Stichman to support the work of the UCLA Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care Program. The gift is a tribute to her late husband Forrest Stichman, who graduated from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1947. The program is a free service that aims to help patients and their caregivers navigate the complex medical, behavioral and social needs associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia and educates caregivers and family members on the resources available to them.
For more information, contact Health Sciences Development at: (844) 474-4387
