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Gifts of note

Sorscher

Eva and Charles Lipman’s recent gift will support breakthrough treatments for cystic fibrosis through the recruitment of Eric J. Sorscher, MD, an internationally recognized scientific leader dedicated to CF research. The aim is to develop effective new drug therapies and a cure. The gift—which will contribute substantially to Sorscher’s laboratory—was an important factor in his decision to move to Atlanta. Recruited by the Department of Pediatrics at Emory School of Medicine, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Georgia Research Alliance, Sorscher previously directed the CF Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and Hertz Professor in Cystic Fibrosis Research, and he co-chairs the International CFTR Folding Consortium, a respected group of researchers supported by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and dedicated to understanding how mutations in the CFTR protein lead to the development of CF. “The Lipman family contribution will have a substantial impact on that effort over the next three years, and we are very grateful for their support,” Sorscher says.”


James H. Lewis of Douglasville, Ga., made a generous bequest in memory of his parents, Sheila R. Lewis and Ira B. Lewis. When realized, the gift will benefit Winship Cancer Institute’s research in lung and colon cancer, and the School of Medicine’s research into Alzheimer’s disease. Lewis has made a separate planned gift to Emory Eye Center for research in glaucoma and Graves’ disease, inspired by reading Emory Eye magazine during an eye-related appointment at Emory.


Brittain Moore

A new endowed scholarship honors the life and career of M. Brittain Moore Jr. 51C 56M, an infectious disease specialist and dermatologist from Lakeland, Fla. His daughter Laura Brittain Moore 80B funded the scholarship to recognize his commitment to helping others and his contributions to fighting infectious diseases. In the 1950s, Moore fulfilled his military service through the U.S. Public Health Service, treating syphilis in Appalachia. He became director of the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory at what would become the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Later, when he was in private practice at the Watson Clinic, his familiarity with skin diseases such as Kaposi’s sarcoma led him to treat some of the first AIDS patients. “At that time, there was a lot of fear about transmission of the disease, but he volunteered to do all the internal medical work needed for them,” his daughter says. “For him, the patients were always more important. Part of what we want to leave is the ability for Emory medical students to continue to help people.” Moore died in December 2015 at age 85.


Visual Impairment

To address visual impairment as an international public health problem, the Alcon Foundation has made a pledge to establish the Global Ophthalmology Fellowship at Rollins School of Public Health and Emory Eye Center. Each fellow also will train at the University of Addis Ababa and Aravind Eye Care System in India, a World Health Organization (WHO) collaborating center for prevention of blindness. WHO estimates that 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide, and that 80 percent of these eye problems can be prevented or cured. Only four global ophthalmology fellowship programs exist in the U.S. The Emory recipient will participate in service activities with the Georgia Lions Lighthouse, Grady Eye Center, Prevent Blindness Georgia, and South Georgia Farmworker Health Project.


Emory Healthcare employees have contributed more than $12,000 in money and hygiene supplies to Mercy Care Atlanta for distribution to people who are homeless. The tradition of collecting resources for the Mercy Care Atlanta street medicine program began at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital in 1985, honoring the legacy of the four Sisters of Mercy who established Atlanta’s first hospital. Emory Healthcare joined the effort in 2014. Mercy Care needs more than 500 hygiene kits a month to assist people in need, and this year’s donations equal more than 3,200 kits.


Cook, Logue

The Emory Cardiology Training Fund benefits from donations at the Hurst, Logue, Wenger Cardiovascular Dinner. Florida cardiologist James T. Cook III 65C 69M 70MR 77MR (left, standing) gave in honor of Willis Hurst and R. Bruce Logue (left, seated). His father, James T. Cook Jr. 35OX 37C 41M, trained under Logue in 1948, and Logue and Hurst accepted the younger Cook as a cardiology fellow in 1976. “Dr. Hurst taught me the pursuit of excellence, and Dr. Logue taught me to be a complete physician,” Cook III says. The Emory Cardiology Training Fund supports educational and training activities for fellows.   

To learn how you can make a major gift to the health sciences at Emory, call 404.712.4483. To make a gift online, please visit emory.edu/give.

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