UTMB raises $3.7M and marks 125 years
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston toasted its 125th anniversary and more than $3.7 million raised with an over-the-top celebration last month. Co-chairs Pat and Fred Burns, Barbara and David Gibbs and B.J. and Buddy Herz rallied 750 supporters from across the state at Moody Gardens Convention Center for the “Milestone Gala: The Best Is Yet to Come.”
Funds raised will create 19 faculty and scholarship endowments. Four families, in particular, were acknowledged for their financial contributions to UTMB: the Sealy & Smith Foundation, Moody Foundation, Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund and Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation. The Sealy & Smith Foundation alone has given more than $900 million to the academic medical center since 1922.
“It was a great evening where we all got to reflect and recognize all of those who have supported UTMB for more than a century,” said Dr. David L. Callender, president of UTMB. “We have a long, storied place in Texas medicine, and we wouldn’t be able to look at a bright future were it not for the generosity of our philanthropists, the tremendous support of local and state officials and our UTMB family of dedicated professionals.”
KPRC Channel 2’s Rachel McNeill presided over the program, which concluded with an interview of William H. McRaven, University of Texas System chancellor, by documentary filmmaker and award-winning newsman Stone Phillips.
Infinite Groove launched after-party festivities into the stratosphere.