This week’s Weekly Heartbeat is headlined by a historic $200 million commitment to Washington University in St. Louis to expand and name its newly established School of Public Health. Other major highlights include a $75 million gift to Mayo Clinic in Florida for a major hospital expansion, a $35 million investment establishing a biomedical discovery center at Notre Dame, a planned gift for community health at Duke University, a powerful donor-researcher partnership advancing “smart bubble” cancer therapy at UCF, and a $2 million gift accelerating the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s new cancer care facility.
Historic $200M Commitment to WashU to Expand and Name New School of Public Health
Washington University in St. Louis has received a historic $200 million commitment from the Bursky Family Foundation – the largest gift in university history – to fortify its newly established School of Public Health. Now named the Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky School of Public Health, the institution is the nation’s first public health school to launch in the post-pandemic era. The landmark funding will accelerate faculty recruitment, fund student scholarships, and establish a dedicated institute to rapidly translate scientific research into real-world healthcare solutions. Read more here.
The Hidden Cost of Waiting to Modernize Grateful Patient Programs
Healthcare foundations frequently delay upgrading their grateful patient programs while waiting for perfect alignment, a key staff hire, or improved data access. However, this hesitation carries a massive hidden cost, often resulting in millions of dollars in lost major gifts and stalled patient impact. Rather than struggling with internal data roadblocks, development teams can partner with healthcare AI + automation experts with extensive experience in grateful patient fundraising to seamlessly integrate their systems. By allowing technology partners to solve the data problem, fundraisers can bypass operational bottlenecks and stay entirely focused on securing transformational gifts. Read more here.
$75M to Mayo Clinic in Florida to Expand Hospital Tower and Transform Care
Paula and Randy Ringhaver have directed a $75 million gift to Mayo Clinic in Florida to support its Bold. Forward. Unbound. initiative. In memory of their infant son, Lee, who passed away from an aggressive form of leukemia, the newly expanded hospital facility will be named the Lee Ringhaver Tower. The transformational investment will fuel the integration of advanced digital technologies within physical care environments, funding an expansion that adds 121 new patient rooms and paves the way for future clinical capacity. Read more here.
$35M to University of Notre Dame to Establish Center for Biomedical Discovery
Douglas and Diana Berthiaume have directed a transformational $35 million gift to the University of Notre Dame to advance biomedical research and critical infrastructure. The investment establishes the new Center for Biomedical Discovery, a foundational component of the university’s Bioengineering & Life Sciences (BELS) Initiative. The funding includes $5 million in seed money for multidisciplinary research teams and will provide researchers with centralized access to cutting-edge technologies, such as high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy and advanced biofabrication capabilities. By bridging the gap between engineering and the life sciences, the gift will accelerate collaborative precision-medicine research and the development of next-generation, life-saving health technologies. Read more here.
Gift from Duke Professor Emeritus Establishes Community Health Fund
Duke University School of Medicine Professor Emeritus J. Lloyd Michener, MD, has made a planned gift to establish the Michener Family Community Health Fund. Made in honor of his late wife and fellow Duke educator, Gwendolyn C. Murphy, PhD, the fund will support the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute in strengthening trust and deepening partnerships between Duke Health and the Durham community. Building upon Michener and Murphy’s 50-year legacy of community-engaged collaboration, the investment will coordinate academic, research, and clinical efforts to address local needs and achieve measurable, community-driven health outcomes. Read more here.
UCF Donor and Researcher Partner to Advance “Smart Bubble” Therapy for Cancer and Heart Disease
At the University of Central Florida, researcher Dinender Singla has partnered with healthcare entrepreneur and university donor Chakri Toleti to launch Exomic, a new company aimed at bringing a revolutionary targeted therapy to FDA clinical trials. Backed by an investment from Toleti’s innovation fund, the patent-pending technology utilizes exosomes – described as “smart, tiny bubbles” – to deliver therapeutics directly to specific diseased cells. This breakthrough holds significant promise for effectively treating aggressive cancers, such as triple-negative breast cancer, at much lower doses while simultaneously protecting the heart from the damaging side effects of traditional chemotherapy. Read more here.
$2M to UMMC to Support New Cancer Center and Research Facility
Trustmark has directed a $2 million gift to the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) to support “It’s About Time: The Campaign for the UMMC Cancer Center and Research Institute.” The investment pushes the $125 million philanthropic campaign to 80% of its total goal, directly funding the construction of a new 250,000-square-foot, five-story cancer facility in Jackson. The future center will house adult outpatient care, oncology education, and advanced research labs, serving as a critical cornerstone in UMMC’s strategic push to secure a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation and improve cancer survival rates across Mississippi. Read more here.
