The Medical School Foundation received a $3.5 million gift from Mrs. Florence Farrow to support cancer research and education. The grant comprises the largest gift from an individual designated for medical research the University has received.
All $3.5 million will be used for academic purposes, with the bulk supporting research training. The Claude Moore Health Library earmarked $250,000 for a collection endowment supporting the purchase of medical journals and books. Last year alone, the library bought $4,000 worth of books pertaining to cancer.
Library Director Linda Watson said the grant will supplement the library's current collection of cancer materials.
"With the average cost of a journal subscription priced at $500 a year, the donation will be valuable in improving our resources," Watson said.
She said she expects the endowment to generate about $12,500 annually in returns.
Library officials also plan to acquire more online journals and resources, which are available to a larger population than the printed collection.
Medical School Dean Robert M. Carey, M.D., said the gift will help the Cancer Center tremendously.
The "infrastructural" nature of the gift is its most important feature, Carey said, meaning "every dollar can be used to obtain a minimum of 10 dollars from outside resources, such as the NIH or American Cancer Society."
Academically oriented gifts often attract matching or complementary grants from other organizations, while funds used for cancer treatment usually do not attract these additional funds.
Over $2.5 million of the gift will be used for fellowships to support cancer researchers. Research at the Cancer Center is booming, and the gift will further expedite research projects and support new experiments.
"One of the most exciting projects is to manufacture new vaccines for malignant melanoma, the most prevalent type of skin cancer. And it is on the rise," Carey said. "Preliminary results look very good."
Florence Farrow, honorary trustee of the Medical School Foundation and widow of University alumnus Dr. Joseph Helms Farrow, left the funds to the Foundation in her will. She passed away in February 1999 at the age of 93.
Dr. Farrow received both his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University. He was an oncologist and chief of breast services at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for more than 35 years.
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