Duke University receives $10 million from the Robertson Foundation
The Robertson Foundation, founded by Julian H. Robertson, Jr. and his wife Josie and their family in 1996 decided to donate $10,2 million to the Duke University to aid the Duke’s research of umbilical cord blood stem cells for treatment of cerebral palsy. It is the largest private donation to fund the medical research and study at the local universities
The money from the donation will be used for the establishment of the Translational Cell Therapy Center at Duke University which will significantly advance the research of treatments based on stem cells and especially the work of Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg who has a long history in research of stem cells for treatment of cancer and series of other disorders and diseases including genetic disorders in children. Julian Robertson stated that Dr. Kreutzberg work may significantly change thousands of lives in the country as well as in other parts of the world. The importance of Dr. Kreutzberg and her team’s work was also underlined by Dr. Victor Dzau, chief executive officer of Duke University Health System and chancellor for health affairs who also emphasized the importance of the Translational Cell Therapy Center for the future research of stem cell therapies and programs for patients suffering from series of diseases and disorders including cancer and diabetes because of the potentials of the stem cells which have the capacity to develop and grow into many kinds of specialized cells in the body.
Dr. Joanne Kreutzberg is a division chief of Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation at the Duke University and medical director of Carolinas Cord Blood Bank. She is known as pioneer of the use of umbilical cord blood stem cells as treatment for cancer and children’s genetic disorders.
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