Located in a new, larger facility, and fresh from recruiting a new
research expert through the support of private giving, the
Department of Dermatology at the UConn Health Center is also
celebrating two new major gifts.
At a private reception on May 11 showcasing the department’s new
clinical and research space at 21 South Road in Farmington, two
gifts were publicly announced by Jane Grant-Kels, M.D., chair of the
department. The first, a pledge for $100,000, came from Grant-Kels
herself, along with her husband, Barry D. Kels, J.D., M.D.,
executive director of risk management at the Health Center. A
matching gift of $100,000 was also presented by an anonymous
grateful patient of Grant-Kels.
“The support shown by Jane and Barry, as well as our grateful
patients at the Health Center, is a testament to the generosity and
commitment of those most personally connected to the UConn Health
Center,” says Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., vice president for
health affairs. “Their philanthropy is an inspiration to us all, and
a sign of their dedication to the field of dermatology, the
University, and the entire state.”
The gifts are part of an upcoming sustained fundraising effort
for the department, which includes the preliminary goal of a
$3-million distinguished endowed department head chair in melanoma
and cutaneous oncology or psoriasis.
“Providing for an endowed chair through philanthropy ensures
there will a perpetual resource for some of the groundbreaking
research that we are on the edge of in the field of dermatology, and
would bring the Health Center’s reputation and capability up to the
next level,” Grant-Kels says. “Endowed support is part of what
separates the top programs in the country, and we can clearly be at
that level given the exceptional researchers, physicians, faculty
and staff who are here.”
Adding to that pool of expertise, the department, Health Center and Neag Comprehensive Cancer
Center have successfully recruited a leading researcher to the cutaneous
oncology program, partially supported through funds
raised by the inaugural 2007 Imagine...Unmasking a World Without
Cancer gala.
Soheil Sam Dadras, M.D., Ph.D., a Stanford University specialist
in cutaneous melanoma, will join the research team at the Health
Center by early August. Grant-Kels says that his
addition shows the power that private giving can have in elevating
research efforts at the University.
“Whether it’s through major gifts, like the ones we’ve announced
to date and will need for our goal of an endowed chair, or the
individual efforts of hundreds of donors at an event like Imagine,
every one of our supporters is making a difference. Together, we’re
creating a program here that will lead the state, region and the
entire field of dermatology.”
To support the Department of Dermatology, please contact Dina
Plapler, vice president for development, at 860.679.8077 or
dplapler@foundation.uconn.edu.
