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UT System Regents Approve Naming Building
for Philanthropist
Newest research building honors Fayez S. Sarofim for $25 million gift
The newest research building at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston will bear the name of the donor who gave the university the largest gift it has ever received - $25 million to advance stem cell research.
Fayez S. Sarofim
The Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building, currently under construction, will house the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM) after the UT System Board of Regents approved naming of the building Feb. 10 at a meeting in Austin.
"Mr. Sarofim is clearly concerned about his fellow man, and as he came to learn about stem cells, he wanted to be helpful," UT Health Science Center President James T. Willerson, M.D., said. "His most generous gift came at a critical time to help us establish the new research center in stem cell biology."
The gift, announced last March, was initially characterized as coming from a grateful patient who preferred not to be identified. "This donor was not interested in the spotlight and wished to remain anonymous, and we complied with those wishes," said Willerson, an internationally known cardiologist. "Over time, however, he became comfortable with our interest in honoring him by placing his name on the building."
This incredible commitment is a landmark event,
not only for the university, but also for stem cell research
in the Texas Medical Center,” Willerson said.
Willerson has called the donation a "transforming gift" that will help create a world-class center for stem cell research. "This incredible commitment is a land- continued on page 2 mark event, not only for the university, but also for stem cell research in the Texas Medical Center," Willerson said.
Sarofim, founder and owner of the investment firm Fayez Sarofim & Co., and Willerson have been friends for about 10 years.
With nearly $190 million now raised in the New Frontiers Campaign, the university is closing in on its $200 million goal to build and equip a new home for the IMM and to recruit and support additional top scientists in the search for the basic mechanisms behind common human diseases.
A topping off ceremony - signifying that the pinnacle of the structure has been reached - is scheduled for the Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building in April.
In 2002, in the beginning stages of the $200 million campaign for the IMM, the Brown Foundation made a $20 million gift commitment that gave a major boost to the fund-raising effort and that resulted in the naming of the IMM itself for that foundation.
A recruitment effort is under way to bring to the IMM a stem cell scientist who will create and lead the center dedicated to fundamental biologic research into how stem cells develop and differentiate.
The new Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building is now under construction on Pressler Street.
Photo by Hendrik van Dijk
Unique in their ability to continually divide, stem cells have the potential of turning into virtually any cell type and tissue in the body. Willerson explained that, by coaxing the cells to differentiate into specific cell types, the cells could be used to create cardiomyocytes for heart tissue repair, neurons to replenish those damaged by stroke, or pancreatic islet cells for the treatment of diabetes.
Led by Director Ferid Murad, M.D., Ph.D., the IMM already conducts extensive research using mouse embryonic stem cell lines and more recently began research using human embryonic stem cell lines approved for use by the National Institutes of Health. Murad, who received the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering work in nitric oxide (NO) research, has begun studies into how NO regulates the differentiation of embryonic stem cells into cardiomyocytes and neurons.
Rick Wetsel, Ph.D., professor of molecular medicine at the IMM, conducts stem cell research in immunology, including the potential development of a "universal donor" stem cell that would not be rejected by a patient's immune system.
Murad holds the John S. Dunn Sr. Distinguished Chair in Physiology and Medicine and chairs the Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology at the UT Medical School at Houston. He and Wetsel also hold faculty appointments at the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston.
By Scott Merville, Public Affairs