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The Gottesman gift will support several important research projects at theCollege of Medicine, most to be conducted in the new Michael F. Price Centerfor Genetic and Translational Medicine/Harold and Muriel Block ResearchPavilion, which officially opens in June 2008. The Price Center/Block ResearchPavilion is the largest medical research facility to be constructed in theBronx since Einstein opened in 1955. A photo of the Price Center is available.
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Funds from the gift will be allocated as follows: $15 million will be usedto establish the Ruth L. and David S. Gottesman Institute for Stem Cell andRegenerative Medicine Research; $7 million will fund The Center forEpigenomics, to be headed by Einstein researcher Dr. John Greally; and$3 million will be used to create The Ruth L. Gottesman Clinical SkillsFacility in the soon-to-be renovated Van Etten Building, which Einstein hasleased from Jacobi Medical Center as part of its overall expansion. Inaddition, the gift will support an endowed chair at the Gottesman stem cellinstitute and a faculty scholar in Epigenomics, as well as the recruitment oftop-flight faculty that will bolster Einstein's already prominent leadershipin both of these important fields.
"In discussions with the College, we determined that stem cells,epigenomics and clinical training were areas where we could help make animportant contribution, both to Einstein and to the future of biomedicalresearch," said Dr. Ruth Gottesman, who was elected chair of Einstein's Boardof Overseers in 2007 and is the first woman, and the first former facultymember, to serve in that role. "We want our gift to support endeavors thatwill position Albert Einstein College of Medicine to excel in both researchand medical education, while also attracting the best and brightest to ourlaboratories and to our classrooms."
"The Gottesman gift will contribute significantly to Einstein's alreadyformidable research efforts in stem cell/regenerative medicine research andepigenomics," said Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., The Marilyn and Stanley M. KatzDean at Einstein. "Additionally, the gift will establish an innovativefacility to further enhance the training of future generations of physiciansat Einstein, helping them master the clinical skills that will prepare them tobe first-rate health care providers."
The specific benefits of the gift to Einstein, as well as to the patientswho will be helped by the resulting research and training, are as follows:
The $25 million gift is a reflection of the Gottesmans' longstandingaffiliation with the College of Medicine. In 2002, the couple endowed aprofessorial chair at Einstein's Children's Evaluation and RehabilitationCenter in connection with Dr. Gottesman's life-long interest in helping peoplewith learning disabilities.
Prior to joining the Einstein Board of Overseers in 2002, Dr. RuthGottesman had a distinguished 33-year academic career at the medical school,beginning in 1968 when she joined Einstein's Children's Evaluation andRehabilitation Center (CERC) to develop a program for children with dyslexiaand other learning disabilities. She went on to serve as CERC's Director ofPsychoeducational Services and later as Director of the Adult LiteracyProgram. In 1999, she became Founding Director of the Fisher Landau Center forthe Treatment of Learning Disabilities, a new division of CERC that wasestablished to provide interdisciplinary services to individuals of all ageswith learn
