Anonymous donors jumpstart HudsonAlpha Endowment Fund

Recent gifts total $1.5 million
 
Not one, but three good Samaritans recently came forward to support the long-term success of the not-for-profit HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. Each has quietly provided a $500,000 gift to build an endowment fund that will play a critical role in the institute’s fiscal growth and stability.

“Personalized medicine clearly has the potential and probability of transforming healthcare over the next several decades,” noted O’Neal Smitherman, executive vice president at HudsonAlpha. “By supporting the endowment, these donors are providing the wherewithal for today’s and tomorrow’s HudsonAlpha researchers to enable more precise diagnoses of human diseases and earlier interventions; more efficient drug development; and more effective therapies.”

Through genomics, or the study of genes, gene sequences and their functions, HudsonAlpha researchers are making discoveries that impact many diseases. Cancer, Parkinson disease, Alzheimer disease, diabetes and heart disease are just a few life-altering disorders that benefit from genomic research. Smitherman noted the endowment also supports lab projects addressing clean, renewable energy and other environmental concerns.

Endowed funds are invested, rather than used as cash for immediate needs.
According to Bob Feldman, vice president of development at HudsonAlpha, the earnings from the endowment may be distributed to the non-profit research labs, educational outreach programs or facilities. Gifts to support the endowment can be made from cash, stock, life insurance, real estate or other assets.

“Advances in genomics are being made at an unprecedented pace,” noted
Smitherman. “Investments in science, research and technology are leading to medical breakthroughs and entirely new industries.” Leaders at HudsonAlpha aim to shorten the time it takes to translate discoveries in the lab into useful products, tools or treatments that improve human life.