Washington University & Duke Each Given $50 Million For Medical Initiatives

Duke University and Washington University in St. Louis have each reported receiving $50 million gifts this week in support of advanced medical care. Here’s a summary of the two gifts.

Duke University

On December 11, Duke University announced that it had received the largest private gift in the history of the Duke University Health System — a $50 million anonymous donation for the development of a proton beam therapy center.

“This is a historic gift, both for Duke and for the state of North Carolina,” said Vincent E. Price, president of Duke University, in the university’s press announcement. “The Duke Proton Center will have a profound impact on cancer care in our region, and we are very grateful for the generous donor support that is making these advances possible.”

Expected to open by 2029, Duke’s proton beam therapy facility will offer proton therapy to approximately 800 patients each year.

Proton therapy is a more precise type of radiation with fewer side effects than conventional radiation therapy. That precision enables it to be directed largely at tumors themselves, rather than surrounding healthy tissue, thereby reducing harm for patients with various forms of cancer, particularly those with neck tumors, breast cancer, gliomas and meningiomas, and prostate cancers.

Proton therapy is increasingly becoming the treatment of choice for a variety of different cancers,” said Michael Kastan, executive director of Duke Cancer Institute. “Having proton therapy at Duke will enable us to push those boundaries even further, improving current applications and developing new ones through innovative clinical trials.”

Washington University

Washington University announced on December 12 that Andrew Taylor and his wife, Barbara, had made a $50 million gift to the university’s neurosurgery department. In recognition of the gift, the department has been renamed the Taylor Family Department of Neurosurgery.

The gift was made out of gratitude for the medical care Andrew Taylor recently received from neurosurgeons at Washington University. Mr. Taylor is the executive chairman of Enterprise Mobility, the global car rental and transportation company based in St.Louis.

“This gift marks a new era in the history of innovative science and compassionate healing at WashU Medicine,” said Chancellor Andrew D. Martin, in a press release. “Andrew and Barbara’s generosity is further strengthening the department’s research infrastructure and helping WashU Medicine deliver world-class, life-changing care right here in St. Louis, while also providing life-saving innovations to the world. Their investment in new discoveries and treatments will give many more families reasons to feel grateful for decades to come.”

The Taylors’ gift will be used in several ways on behalf of the department, which is ranked fifth nationally for research funding from the National Institutes of Health.

It will support the recruitment of neurosurgeons and neurosurgery researchers, enhance neurosurgery residencies and fellowship training and strengthen the department’s current expertise in area such as neurotechnology, brain tumor treatment and spinal surgery. The gift will also support high-risk, high-reward projects in emerging or rapidly evolving neurosurgery research fields.