PITTSBURGH, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation has been awarded the largest single gift in the hospital’s 100-year history -- a joint grant of $10 million from Henry L. Hillman Foundation and Hillman Foundation.
The contributions, among the largest ever awarded by the Foundations, were approved Tuesday by both Foundations’ boards of directors. The funds will be used to establish the Hillman Endowment for Pediatric Transplantation Research and Hillman Pediatric Transplantation Institute, part of the new Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh campus in Lawrenceville set to open in 2008.
The Hillman grants represent the lead gift in Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation’s current capital campaign, now in its initial phase. Mr. Hillman, who was a trustee of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for more than 40 years, is the campaign’s honorary chair. He previously served as co- chair, along with the late Ben Fisher, of Children’s capital campaign conducted in the early 1980’s.
“We are delighted to support the wonderful work being done at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in the field of pediatric transplantation,” said Hillman. “Pittsburgh is already on the cutting-edge in this field. With this additional support, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh will launch a new era in pediatric transplantation.”
“This is an extraordinary gift that reflects Henry Hillman’s deep, long- term connection to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and unwavering commitment to improving the health of our region’s children,” said Ron Violi, president and CEO of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation. “It is a powerful endorsement from one of our nation’s foremost business leaders of the capabilities and potential within Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.”
Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh is the busiest pediatric transplant center in the nation. Surgeons at Children’s perform more pediatric heart/lung transplants, liver and intestine transplants than any other center in the country.
A leader in developing strategies to manage organ rejection, Children’s has consistently reported outcomes for all transplant organs that far surpass national norms. For example, Children’s has one of the highest five-year survival rates in the nation for heart-transplant patients -- about 15 percent above the national average. Children’s also has successfully weaned the largest group of liver-transplant recipients in the world from immunosuppressant drugs, which cause debilitating side-effects.
“We are deeply grateful for this gift,” said Dr. George Mazariegos, director of pediatric transplantation at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. “The hundreds of children who seek transplant surgery in Pittsburgh every year now will have no doubt that they are in the best possible place to get well and resume their lives.
“There are no words to express what this means to the children whose lives are at stake,” said Dr. Mazariegos. “It’s an amazing, wonderful gift.”
The Hillman gift will support numerous initiatives, including research, advanced training, state-of-the-art immune monitoring, and the development of bio-artificial support systems specifically for pediatric transplant patients.
Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation provides financial support to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh through accountability of contributions, stewardship of donors and advocacy for the hospital’s mission.
Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of all children through excellence in patient care, teaching and research. As the only hospital in western Pennsylvania devoted solely to the care of infants, children and young adults, the hospital has been named consistently to several elite lists of pediatric health care facilities, including ranking eighth among children’s hospitals (FY 2003) in funding provided by the National Institutes of Health.
The hospital also is renowned for cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, critical care medicine, diabetes, hematology/oncology, neurosurgery, orthopaedics, otolaryngology (ENT) and pediatric surgery. Children’s Hospital is also the only accredited Level 1 Regional Resource Pediatric Trauma Center in western Pennsylvania and one of only three in the state.
Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation
CONTACT: DeAnn Marshall, Executive Vice President and Chief OperatingOfficer of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation, office,+1-412-586-6312, or toll-free, +1-877-247-4483
Web site: http://www.chp.edu/