The Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation presented UTRGV with $38 million earlier today to help establish a program that will advance philanthropic giving and total research expenditures.
The Transforming Health Research in the Valley and Elsewhere (THRIVE) project is a unique medical hub for scientific discovery focused on improving health in the Rio Grande Valley, according to a UTRGV news release.
UTRGV President Guy Bailey said the donation will transform the institution in many ways.
“First of all, it helps our medical school accomplish a wide range of goals in research and in health care and it’s focused really on genetic issues that affect disease in the Valley,” Bailey said. “So it’s very important in that respect.”
He added that the Legacy Foundation has helped fund different projects at UTRGV, including a neuroscience center and a clinical psychology doctoral program.
John Krouse, UTRGV executive vice president for Health Affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, said the funding allows the school to deliver on all three of its core missions.
“We will be able to increase the range of research activities centered in Brownsville and conduct it through our South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute,” Krouse said. “We will expand in the related areas such as child and genetics, genomic bio imaging and regenerative medicine and hence collaboration with our institute for neurosciences in Harlingen and develop the foundation for a master’s degree program in genetics counseling.”
He said funding will provide much needed education through the training of four new general surgeons yearly in Cameron County.
“As well as to expand our programs in the education of biomedical sciences for our new Ph.D. program in human genetics in Brownsville,” Krouse said. “Finally, the funding of our general surgery residency program in Valley Baptist will allow the School of Medicine to expand much needed surgical care in Cameron County.”
Judy Quisenberry, executive director for Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation, attended the event and said the university had the most potential to change the way health and research is conducted in the Rio Grande Valley.
“I think that what UTRGV has done in such a short period of time, expanding programs and growing new ones, makes UTRGV just a fabulous place to go to school,” Quisenberry said. “And, I think everyone that goes there will be so proud of the institution.”
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