Insight/Report on Private Giving

Spring 2006

Message from the Dean

Dear Friends,

At the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital, researchers are investigating a potential new cancer therapy that attacks tumor cells using radioisotopes attached to vitamin B-12. In another study, investigators are exploring treatments for osteoporosis (brittle bone disease), using sheep as a model for human disease.

At the Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology Laboratory, a wide variety of assistive reproductive technologies, including cryopreservation of embryos, are used to aid in large animal reproduction.

At the Orthopaedic Research Center, scientists are discovering new ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat bone and joint disease and injury in horses, collaborating with physicians to apply these technologies and interventions to similar problems in human patients.

What do these three programs have in common? Without support from the private sector, much of their breakthrough biomedical and veterinary research simply would not be possible. Private dollars enable us to pursue investigations into areas that receive little to no funding from government agencies that fund the majority of research at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Bio-medical Sciences. Through private donations, we are able to conduct research that is changing the way we treat cancer, not only for your pets, but for you as well. Through private donations, we not only help preserve highly valued equine genetic material, but our research may help save endangered species, too. Through private donations, our scientists are learning how to effectively treat osteoporosis, a devastating disease that afflicts 10 million people in the United States with 18 million more at risk with low bone density.

But private funding doesn’t just provide money for research. With private funding, we have been able to build facilities in which to conduct research and provide treatment. We have been able to pay salaries of special appointment faculty and laboratory staff. We have been able to endow University and College Chairs that provide us with a source of stable funding so that we can attract the best and brightest scientists to our ranks. We have been able to pay operating costs that keep us running.

It is hard to overstate the importance of private funding to our continued excellence in biomedical and veterinary research. The articles in this edition of the Report on Private Giving showcase several of our programs positively affected by private funding, and also report on where we need to go next. Although 2005 has been very positive for the College, we face new challenges in 2006 including expansion of the South Campus, the need for new laboratory space on the Main Campus, and the ongoing construction projects in infectious disease and animal reproduction at the Foothills Research Campus.

I want to thank each of you who donated so generously to the College in 2005. Total private giving for the year was $13,700,435. We saw the dedication of the Equine Reproduction Laboratory, funded through the Walton Family Foundation. We received word of funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help develop new vaccines for dengue fever. An anonymous donor contributed $1 million to create a cancer biology graduate program. Many, many other donors contributed to scholarships, to the Miki Society, to the Tribute Garden, to equipment purchases, and so much more. With you, we have been able to establish programs of excellence and will continue to do so with your help.

I hope you enjoy this edition of the Report on Private Giving and look forward to seeing you soon.

With Best Regards,

Lance E. Perryman, DVM, PhD
Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences