Gifts

Pamela Buffett has contributed $1 million to the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Made through the Rebecca Susan Buffett Foundation, established in memory of Pamela Buffett’s daughter Rebecca Susan Buffett, this gift will honor Dr. Gary Gitnick, professor emeritus, for his remarkable legacy at UCLA, and Dr. Eric Esrailian (FEL ’06), chief of the UCLA Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases and Lincy Foundation Chair in Clinical Gastroenterology. Dr. Gitnick retired after 50 years at UCLA, during which he served as chief of the division for 25 years. This funding will support groundbreaking research, rigorous training of future leaders in the field, patient care and service to the community, including vulnerable populations throughout Los Angeles.

The William D. Feldman family, has made a $250,000 contribution to the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in memory of Joan Blum Feldman. The gift will support the ovarian cancer research of Dr. Beth Y. Karlan (FEL ’89) in the UCLA Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Leah and Sam Fischer, longtime donors and dedicated UCLA School of Law alumni, have contributed $250,000 to establish the Leah and Sam Fischer Scholarship. The first of its kind, this scholarship is specifically for medical students in the PRIME program in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. PRIME is a unique five-year MD and master's degree program emphasizing leadership and advocacy training to address health care disparities in medically under-resourced populations in California and the United States. The Fischers’ gift will support a student with financial need, as they pursue training and community work/research to address health inequities.

The John Douglas French Alzheimer’s Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting innovative Alzheimer’s disease research, has made a contribution to establish a second endowed chair in Alzheimer’s disease research in the UCLA Department of Neurology. Dr. John D. French was a distinguished neurosurgeon and the first director of the UCLA Brain Research Institute.

Dr. John D. French. Photo: Courtesy of the John Douglas French Alzheimer’s Foundation

The Engelstad Foundation, longtime benefactors of medical research, made a gift of $1 million to support the UCLA Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases fellowship program. Although the Engelstad Foundation has supported education and research within communities in Nevada, it is the first time the foundation has provided funding to UCLA. This philanthropy is vital to enriching the division’s highly competitive fellowship training program, which prepares scientists and physicians to spearhead investigations leading to discoveries in the field of gastroenterology that improve patient health and wellness.

On behalf of employee Chau Le and her partner John Klemm, Northwestern Mutual Foundation has made a contribution to benefit the UCLA Center for Autism Research and Treatment (CART) College to Career Transition Program led by Dr. Amanda Gulsrud (PhD ’07) and Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson. The gift will provide resources to help young adults with autism spectrum disorder successfully transition from education to employment. The program focuses on the development of social and practical skills through interactive workshops, job coaching and workplace mentorship. On June 3, 2020, during a virtual gathering, Le and Klemm presented a check to Drs. Gulsrud, Laugeson and Daniel Geschwind (RES ’95, FEL ’97), director of UCLA CART. Northwestern Mutual Foundation, dedicated to improving the health, wellness and education of children and young adults, recognizes its employees’ volunteer efforts by funding various nonprofits nationwide, where its employees provide mentoring and other services. Le, the new chair of the UCLA Chancellor’s Society, and Klemm were instrumental in funding the College to Career Transition Program’s pilot program and currently help lead the program’s advisory committee in its efforts.

Top: Drs. Amanda Gulsrud (left) and Daniel Geschwind. Bottom: (from left): Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson, Chau Le and John Klemm.
Photo: Monica Belli Haley

A gift of $100,000 from the Anne and Arnold Porath Family Charitable Fund has been made to support research that will evaluate clinical and survey data to describe the outcomes of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 who were admitted
to the intensive care unit and/or suffered cardiopulmonary arrest. Dr. Neil Wenger (MD ’84, RES ’87, ’90, FEL ’89) and Dr. Thanh Neville (MD ’05, RES ’08, FEL ’11) will lead the study, with a goal to help guide future patient discussions and empower informed advanced-care planning decisions. The information gained will be used to expand the project to involve multiple hospitals and develop new interventions.

The late UCLA professors emeriti Dr. Sidney Roberts and Dr. Clara Szego Roberts provided $1.5 million through their estate to establish the Sidney Roberts and Clara Szego Roberts Endowed Chair in Molecular/Cellular Endocrinology within the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Their bequest, part of a more than $10 million estate gift that also will fund scholarships for undergraduate students studying science and art, reflects the couple’s backgrounds as endocrinologists committed to understanding steroid hormone action in relation to metabolism, nutrition, brain function and other areas. Dr. Andrea Hevener, appointed as the inaugural term chair holder, studies insulin signaling and estrogen action and is making significant strides in identifying disease susceptibility within obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and breast cancer.

The Wyss Medical Foundation has contributed $3 million to benefit the UCLA Orthopaedic Trauma Service, under the direction of Dr. Eric E. Johnson (RES ’81), the Dr. Walter and Mrs. Kathryn Mullikin Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery. This funding will advance surgeon training in orthopaedic trauma surgery and will provide support for residents to pursue research and attend conferences and lectures. In addition, the gift will fund a comprehensive study of injury patterns, operative and conservative therapy regimens and short- and long-term patient outcomes, which will lead to developments that will elevate diagnostics and surgical trauma procedures and advance patient safety.

For more information, contact Health Sciences Development at: 310-206-6484