The Dallas-based Hamon Charitable Foundation has made a $10 million gift to UT Southwestern to establish an endowment to support the new Laura and Jack Roach Center for Translational Research in Alzheimer’s Disease.
The gift will fuel “translational research”—in other words, work that identifies and transfers promising new discoveries to clinicians, who then test the discoveries’ effectiveness—that will focus on better ways to treat Alzheimer’s and delay its onset.
“This magnificent gift … will strengthen the infrastructure for translational research within the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute,” Dr. Daniel K. Podolsky, president of Dallas-based UT Southwestern, said in a news release. “A strengthened translational research program will bridge the gap between scientific discovery and clinical care …”
The Hamon Charitable Foundation created the endowment to honor the Roaches, after Laura Roach was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Jack Roach has served as an officer of the foundation since its creation. The foundation’s latest gift boosts its total giving to support activities of the O’Donnell Brain Institute to $25 million, including an earlier gift of $15 million to support neuroimaging initiatives of the Advanced Imaging Research Center.
