February 26, 2002
Silverstein Gift Funds Genetic Research
CHICAGO— The Herman M. and Bea L. Silverstein Foundation has made a $1 million gift to the Center for Genetic Medicine at The Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. The gift will be used to support both education and research initiatives within the center as well as to disseminate advances in genetics research and technology within the field and to the medical profession and the public.
“This Silverstein Foundation gift is unique in that it supports the Center’s efforts to improve the public’s understanding of genetics and how it will impact all of our lives. I can think of no better tribute to Herman and Bea Silverstein than to leave a legacy of helping the public understand the revolution in medicine that genetics is producing,” said Rex L. Chisholm, director of the Center for Genetic Medicine and professor of cell and molecular biology at the Feinberg school.
The programs supported by the medical research fund are consistent with the goals of the Center for Genetic Medicine to foster genetics, genetic research, genetic technology and the impact of genetics and genetic technology on society, Chisholm said.
The first of these events will be a symposium for the public on the topic of stem cells. This symposium, to be held April 6, 2002 at Northwestern University’s Pick-Stager Concert Hall on the Evanston campus, will bring together scientists and ethicists to explore and present the science and social issues that surround the use of stem cells. (For more information regarding the symposium, go to http://www.cgm.northwestern.edu/seminars/6april2002.htm.)
The center’s other programs include lectures, symposia and presentations designed to instruct and inform the general public as well as genetic practitioners and medical professionals and to provide a forum where prominent genetic and medical scholars and scientists may present their findings and exchange information relating to the latest hypotheses and developments in genetics and genetic medicine. Finally, the fund will sponsor promising students and researchers in medicine and medical technology.
The Center for Genetic Medicine provides a focus for genetics research and genetic medicine at Northwestern University and its health care partners, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare and Children’s Memorial Hospital.
The center facilitates the understanding of genetic mechanisms, the development of genetically based technology for diagnosis and treatment of disease and aids the faculty of the Feinberg Medical School and its partner hospitals in the application of genetics to the practice of medicine. The center also strives to foster public awareness of the opportunities and challenges of genetic technology.
Herman Silverstein was an eminent attorney, board chairman and president of Chicago’s George F. Harding Museum and chairman of the board and president of the Mid-American National Bank of Chicago. Over almost 50 years, Herman and Bea Silverstein donated generously to the arts and the field of medicine, with such gifts as the Herman M. Silverstein Arms and Armour Gallery at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Herman M. Silverstein Outpatient Surgical Waiting Room at Passavent Hospital.
In presenting this bequest, Melvin Blum, director of the Silverstein Foundation, said: “This gift to the Center for Genetic Medicine in memory of Herman and Bea Silverstein perpetuates the spirit of hope for a better future through medical and scientific advances that inspired the Sliversteins and motivated their support.”
Visit the Center for Genetic Medicine’s website at: http://www.cgm.northwestern.edu.
