Harrison and Elaine Levy have made a $1 million gift to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation to support Alzheimer’s research.
To honor that gift, on Wednesday OMRF dedicated the Levy & Ray Family Laboratory for Alzheimer’s Research.
The first scientist to occupy that lab will be Heather Rice, Ph.D. She studies molecules in the brain called amyloid precursor proteins, whose accumulation is believed to play a key role in Alzheimer’s.
More than 6 million Americans currently live with Alzheimer’s. That number is expected to double by 2050.
Harrison Levy, a longtime member of OMRF’s Board of Directors, described the donation for Alzheimer’s research at OMRF as “deeply personal.”
Two years ago, a neurologist diagnosed him as being in the early stages of the disease. The physician prescribed a medication that had recently been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“It has proven to be quite effective,” Levy said. “My hope is that with this donation, Dr. Rice’s research will lead to more new treatments, or perhaps even to a possible prevention of Alzheimer’s.”
Levy, a commercial real estate broker in Oklahoma City, has been a loyal donor to OMRF since 1981 and a Board member since 1995. Upon deciding to designate a large gift for Alzheimer’s research, Levy and his wife, Elaine, visited Rice’s lab to share his story and better understand her research. On Wednesday, they returned for the dedication, accompanied by their daughter and son-in-law, Alyson and Joe Ray.
OMRF’s Rice described the meeting as “inspirational” and said that it will fuel her lab’s research going forward. “Seeing their names on the wall outside my lab will continually remind us that our work matters as we strive to improve the lives of people with this disease.”
