Photo By Capehart
Lois Pope
Lois Pope knows firsthand the toll of Alzheimer’s disease. After losing her daughter, Lorraine, to the illness earlier this year, the longtime philanthropist has made a $10 million gift to the University of Miami (UM) Miller School of Medicine in her daughter’s honor. The donation will support cutting-edge research in neurological and neurodegenerative disorders through the newly named Lois Pope Laboratory Wing.
The new donation marks the third time Pope has made an eight-figure gift to UM. In 2000, a $12 million contribution to The Miami Project led to the building of the Lois Pope LIFE Center, a hub for research and treatment of spinal cord and traumatic brain inuries and other neurological disorders.
Two decades later, she followed with a $12 million donation that helped establish the Lois Pope Center for Retinal and Macular Degeneration Research at UM’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and two years ago, a $1 million contribution supported the institute’s initiative to develop the world’s first whole eye transplant and Lois’ Vision4Kids.
“Lois Pope’s generosity has touched so many lives all over the world. We could not be more grateful for her continued belief in, and support of, the basic and translational research we conduct in the Lois Pope LIFE Center. Our approach to some of the most challenging neurological conditions, acute injuries and more progressive neurodegenerative disorders positions us to advance research findings with the goal of transforming people’s lives,” says W. Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D., at The Miami Project.
This latest gift will further expand neuroscience programs to develop new diagnostic approaches and therapeutic interventions to target disease mechanisms and improve patients’ quality of life.
For more information, visit news.med.miami.edu and themiamiproject.org.