The University of South Florida’s Byrd Alzheimer’s Center & Research Institute received a $6.5 million estate gift this week from a recently deceased benefactor who had regularly made smaller donations since 2002.
The facility will be able to use the money in whatever way “best serves our needs in priority areas,” said Gopal Thinakaran, the institute's CEO.
“One immediate need is to establish professorships to recognize individuals who have contributed to Alzheimer’s research. This will allow us to recruit renowned Alzheimer’s disease researchers,” Thinakaran said.
The donor, who wished to remain anonymous, was described as being “motivated to learn all he could about Alzheimer’s disease after seeing its effects on friends and family members.”
The institute, located on USF's Tampa campus, is touted as one of the world's largest standalone diagnostic Alzheimer's facilities offering comprehensive memory care services under one roof.
Dr. Amanda Smith, the institute’s director of clinical research, said the surprise donation will have an enormous impact.
“This extremely generous gift has great potential to make a difference in the lives of patients and families living with these conditions, and to fund research that will bring us closer to a cure,” said Smith, also a director in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences.
Eileen Poiley, director of education for the institute, said the donation will also impact those who care for people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
“It will make it possible for us to increase certain caregiver education and community education efforts,” Poiley said.
The institute was established in 2002 by the Legislature as an autonomous facility dedicated to finding a cure for Alzheimer’s. The main catalyst was then-House Speaker Johnnie Byrd Jr., whose father suffered from the disease.
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