Evelyn Griffin Gives $144,000 to New Frontiers Campaign

Gift of stock advances stem cell research at Institute of Molecular Medicine

Evelyn Griffin is a firm believer in the power of biomedical research. An avid golfer, Griffin was struck with rheumatoid arthritis at age 18. The disease was so debilitating that it confined her to a wheelchair for six months. But her condition did not stop her from excelling at the sport she loved and becoming the defending champion for the Houston Women’s City Amateur Golf Tournament.

Evelyn Griffin

She believes that her quality of life would have been diminished had it not been for the researchers and physicians who developed the drug therapies to treat her arthritis.

Griffin is as passionate about golf as she is about helping others live a long, healthy and active life. Her belief in the healing power of stem cells led her to make a gift of stock valued at nearly $144,000 to expand basic stem cell research at the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM).

Her gift to the New Frontiers Campaign will help researchers uncover the mechanisms behind stem cell growth and apply the knowledge to disease prevention.

“We are thankful for Evelyn’s personal commitment to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and to the IMM and for her faith in stem cell research,” said James T. Willerson, M.D., president of the UT Health Science Center at Houston. “Stem cells have enormous possibilities for saving lives, and I appreciate her confidence in our efforts as she joins us in our quest to conquer the diseases of our time.”

Housed in the IMM’s Research Center for Stem Cell Biology, the stem cell research program is the only facility of its kind in the Texas Medical Center (TMC) and supports many TMC institutions in their own stem cell work.

Unique in their ability to continually divide and regenerate for long periods, stem cells have the potential of turning into virtually any cell type and tissue in the body. Willerson and his colleagues at the IMM believe that stem cells could revolutionize transplantation medicine and gene therapy.

According to Willerson, gifts like Griffin’s will help recruit additional world-class stem cell scientists, who will create and lead a center devoted to fundamental research related to stem cell biology.

“Dr. Willerson is a marvelous man and a wonderful cardiologist, and I wanted to support his efforts,” Griffin said. “I have a feeling that one day scientists will be able to isolate genes that can cure chronic diseases like mine.”

Griffin, a member of the UT Health Science Center Development Board since 2004, has devoted her life to numerous causes. Her late husband, William Griffin, former chief executive officer and president of Daniel Industries, created the William and Evelyn Griffin Foundation two years before his death in 1999.

In addition to the IMM, Griffin has given to the health science center’s President’s Excellence Fund and the Medical School Dean’s Excellence Fund through the Lone Star Legacy Society. “I’ve been extremely fortunate to be able to help a lot of different causes,” Griffin said. Today, the Georgia native continues to play 18 holes of golf. The 21-time River Oaks Country Club champion golfer boasts a single-digit handicap. She credits her arthritis therapy for keeping her on the links.

“Even though my arthritis is progressing, the medications have kept me active in life,” Griffin said. “I appreciate all the scientific research that goes into developing drugs because it’s helping the world.”

Griffin’s gift helps bring the $200 million New Frontiers Campaign to more than $191 million. Chaired by Beth Robertson and co-chaired by Ben Love, the campaign will provide funds to recruit additional top-tier scientists and expand research into the molecular and genetic causes of human diseases.

By Jacqueline Preston, Development