Johns Hopkins Medicine Honors U.A.E. Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan

“Transformational” contribution to support new clinical tower and research at the Baltimore institution Johns Hopkins officials today announced a significant financial commitment to Johns Hopkins Medicine from His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Most of the gift, made in honor of Sheikh Khalifa’s late father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, will support construction of The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s new cardiovascular and critical care tower, currently under construction on the East Baltimore campus.

In addition, some funds will go to The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Dean’s Discretionary Fund to be directed to cardiovascular research and some also have been earmarked for AIDS research at the Johns Hopkins University-Makerere University Collaborative Care Center, at Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda.

Johns Hopkins is respecting the donor’s request that the amount of the gift not be disclosed.

“This transformational gift is a testament not only to the generosity of Sheikh Khalifa and his family but to their vision,” said Johns Hopkins University president William R. Brody. “The care that will take place in this new tower will benefit generations of patients, and the discoveries made here will reach far beyond the campus in East Baltimore, touching lives around the world.”

The new Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cardiovascular and Critical Care Tower is one of two 12-story towers being built as part of Johns Hopkins Medicine’s campus redevelopment. The 913,000-square-foot tower, housing the Johns Hopkins Heart Institute, 355 patient beds, and operating rooms clustered with catheterization labs and imaging suites, is designed to marry the needs of a teaching hospital with the latest in communication and information technology, including wireless voice communications, wireless and high-speed internet access, and all-digital medical imaging available in all labs, operating rooms, and patient rooms.

“This magnificent gift is a true investment in the future,” said Edward D. Miller, M.D., the Frances Watt Baker, M.D., and Lenox D. Baker Jr., M.D., Dean of the Medical Faculty at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and chief executive officer of Johns Hopkins Medicine. “We can only imagine some of the advances that will occur within this building, and we look forward to the near future, when work on the building is finished and work in the building begins.”

“Along with the critical work of our physicians, nurses and staff, maintaining our excellence requires 21st century facilities to support them, and it is the generosity of philanthropists such as Sheikh Khalifa that makes such things possible,” said Ronald R. Peterson, president of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is credited with guiding the establishment of the United Arab Emirates. He was Ruler of Abu Dhabi, the largest of the seven emirates, and was President of the U.A.E. from 1971 until his death in 2004.

Completion of the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cardiovascular and Critical Care Tower, on which construction began in 2007, is expected in December, 2010. “This gift comes at an important time for Johns Hopkins Medicine,” said Steven Rum, senior associate vice president for development and alumni relations at Johns Hopkins Medicine. “As we revitalize the East Baltimore medical campus, we are grateful for the support and leadership of the President of the UAE.”

The gift is the latest in a series of connections between Johns Hopkins and the United Arab Emirates. Last year, for example, Johns Hopkins Medicine began managerial oversight of healthcare systems in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, including those at the prestigious Tawam Hospital. The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine faculty are also involved in a collaborative effort to improve the medical education program there. And faculty from the University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health are working on a public health doctorate program tailored to the needs of the U.A.E. and playing an advisory role in the design of preventive health care strategies in the Emirates.

The gift brings total commitments to the Johns Hopkins Knowledge for the World campaign to more than $2.6 billion. Priorities of the campaign, which benefits divisions of The Johns Hopkins University and The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, include strengthening endowment for student aid and faculty support; advancing research, academic and clinical initiatives; and building and upgrading facilities on all campuses. The campaign began in July 2000.

A more than $4 billion enterprise, Johns Hopkins Medicine unites physicians and scientists of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with the organizations, health professionals and facilities of the Johns Hopkins Health System. Its mission is to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and clinical care.

The School of Medicine receives more federal research funding than any other medical school in the United States. The Johns Hopkins Health System includes three acute-care hospitals, including The Johns Hopkins Hospital, which opened in 1889 and has headed the list of America’s best hospitals for 16 years running in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey.

Source-John Hopkins
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