Texas Heart® Institute Grateful Beneficiary of $5 million ExxonMobil Gift for Cardiovascular Research
Dr. Mark Kline, Dr. James T. Willerson, Dr. Ron DePinho and Rex Tillotson at announcement.
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HOUSTON, TEXAS (October 2, 2014)- Officials with the Texas Heart Institute (THI) at CHI St. Luke’s Health-Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center expressed their gratitude today to ExxonMobil for a pledge of $5 million to fund ground-breaking cardiovascular research. It is the largest such corporate gift in the more than 50-year history of the nonprofit Texas Heart Institute.
The pledge includes $1 million in 2014 and an additional $1 million in each of the next four years. The gift to THI, along with major gifts to The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Texas Children’s Hospital, was announced at a joint press conference before ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson was scheduled to deliver the Greater Houston Partnership’s annual State of Energy address in downtown Houston.
“Needless to say, we are very grateful to ExxonMobil for the impact this generous gift will have on our cardiovascular research programs,” said
Dr. James T. Willerson, THI President. “Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 threat to the health of all Americans and this transformational gift will help us break even more new ground in the fight against it.”
ExxonMobil’s donation will be directed to support THI’s transformational research goals, said Dr. Willerson. These include:
- To create whole hearts by using individual patients’ adult stem cells.
- To “knock out” the most dangerous genes that cause heart attacks, heart failure, sudden death, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases.
- To develop a total artificial heart for humans that will replace their diseased hearts and allow normal lifestyles with no immunosuppressive drugs.
- To address the increasing incidence of heart disease in women and prevent sudden cardiac death in young people, especially young athletes.
- To help reduce the escalating cost of health care through forward-looking research and educational programs that will result in better, more cost-efficient treatments, healthier lifestyles and, ultimately, the prevention of heart disease.
For media inquiries please contact:
Director of Public Affairs
Texas Heart Institute
Frank Michel ♦ 832-355-9510 ♦ fmichel@texasheart.org
For THI media profile, see Public Affairs.
