A major gift by the Kerr Foundation has established a new endowed chair in cancer research and pushed the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation’s “For the Future of Medical Research” campaign over the $80 million mark.
Just 28 months into the five-year $100 million campaign, OMRF has now received $80,023,950, according to Art Cotton, OMRF vice president for development.
The Kerr Foundation gift will establish the Robert S. Kerr Jr. Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at OMRF. The gift was made on behalf of the Kerr Foundation by Lou C. Kerr in honor of her husband, for whom the endowed chair is named.
“OMRF is the grateful beneficiary of a long history of giving by the Kerr Foundation,” Cotton said. “The new endowed chair underscored the Kerrs’ commitment to excellence in medical research and improving the quality of life in Oklahoma and beyond.”
The Robert S. Kerr Jr. Endowed Chair in Cancer Research will be part of OMRF’s internationally recognized Immunobiology and Cancer Program.
“This gift will allow OMRF to bring another distinguished scientist to Oklahoma, and provide funding for research that will forge new knowledge in the understanding of a complicated disease that takes an enormous toll on humankind,” Cotton said. “The research supported by this chair will continue our focus on reducing the incidence of cancer and providing increasingly effective and compassionate treatment for cancer patients.”
OMRF’s Immunobiology and Cancer Program is one of the foundation’s primary areas of research. The program includes studies on Hodgkin’s Disease, lymphoma, leukemia and breast cancer.
The main focus of the OMRF Immunobiology and Cancer Program is to learn how the immune system develops, how white blood cells turn into cancer cells and the basis for some forms of immunodeficiency disease. The five laboratories in the program conduct experiments on different aspects of these problems, but work cooperatively toward major goals.
More than 200 scientific publications have resulted from their studies, and the projects have had uninterrupted support from peer-reviewed grants for the past 27 years.
OMRF’s ambitious For the Future of Medical Research campaign is designed to allow the foundation to grow and maintain pace with the rapidly changing world of biomedical research. Retention of OMRF’s top scientists and the recruitment of others, the purchase of new technology and the expansion and renovation of facilities are critical to OMRF’s future successes. Those needs and others identified in the foundations’ strategic plan are what the funding campaign is designed to address.
“To have achieved $80 million of our $100 million, five-year goal in just 28 months is a humbling, gratifying accomplishment,” said OMRF President Dr. J. Donald Capra. “It is also a powerful statement about the high level of science being conducted here, and a beacon of hope for new, important discoveries in the future. This success speaks volumes about the vision and selflessness of our contributors, to whom we owe great thanks.
“We look forward to the successful completion of the campaign, and the resulting improvements to OMRF,” Capra said.
Chartered in 1946, OMRF is a private, non-profit, biomedical research institution which employs more than 450 scientists, physicians, technicians, and administrative and support personnel. OMRF focuses on several critical areas of research: Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, lupus and other autoimmune diseases, stroke, AIDS, aging, children’s diseases and genetic disorders.
