Chapman Trusts Fund Fellowship
Some people sit back and wait for medicine to advance. Others step in and play a significant role in helping to make the future a reality.
Jerry Dickman and Donne Pitman, Co-Trustees of the H.A. & Mary K. Chapman Charitable Foundations in Tulsa, Oklahoma, were energized when they heard Greg Downey, MD, and David Schwartz, MD, describe their vision for the future of preventive and personalized medicine at National Jewish Health, and how discoveries at National Jewish Health could change healthcare around the globe. As a result, they decided to fund the Post-Doctoral Chapman Fellow in the Center for Genetics and Therapeutics for the next three years.
Most patients wait until symptoms are intolerable before visiting the doctor. Drs. Downey and Schwartz described a future in which diagnostic tests will quickly and accurately detect the presence of disease before a patient suffers any symptoms, and then identify the best course of treatment for that particular patient at that stage of illness. An early diagnosis offers the best opportunity for effective disease management and potentially even a cure. Physicians hope that access to this type of information will encourage even the most reluctant patients to be more proactive in their own healthcare.
Genetics will be an integral part of that future. With the recent sequencing of the human genome and rapidly advancing technology, the stage has been set for discoveries that will reveal the genetic underpinnings of many diseases, and how individual genetic differences can increase a person's risk of disease or protect against a disease.
The Center for Genetics and Therapeutics, led by David Schwartz, MD, is poised to make many of those discoveries. The Center will unite experienced faculty with post-doctoral students in their search for better ways to diagnose, track and treat disease. With help from the Chapman Foundations, National Jewish Health will also continue its longstanding tradition of training the next generation of healthcare professionals while taking advantage of their creativity and "spark" to look for new ideas.
"We are pleased to be a part of such progressive work. National Jewish Health is poised to have a significant impact on medicine, and we want to support its efforts with a gift to the Fellowship program," said Donne Pitman.
