A Medical Device Daily Report
Stanford University (Stanford, California) reported that Jill and John Freidenrich, alumni and longtime supporters of Stanford,will award $25 million to the university's School of Medicine to boost its work in translational research in cancer and other diseases. The gift is one of the school's largest single contributions to date, it said.
The gift will establish the Jill and John Freidenrich Center for Translational Research at the university, designed to be the hub for the school's work in translational medicine, which will occur in partnership with Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. The center will house clinical trials in cancer and new faculty working in translational medicine, as well as biostatisticians, research nurses, and others.
“It's one thing to do research. But if you really want to help people who are ill, you want to develop the best therapies and then conduct clinical trials,” said John Freidenrich, who received both his undergraduate and law degrees from Stanford. “We have to find more ways to go from the bench to clinical trials to patients.”
Jill Freidenrich, who received her undergraduate degree from Stanford, became an advocate for women after surviving breast cancer in 1991.
“The Jill and John Freidenrich Center for Translational Research will help us to shape the future of medicine for our local community but also for our global community. I am deeply grateful for their vision and generosity,” said Philip Pizzo, MD, dean of the School of Medicine.
The gift comes at a time when Stanford's cancer center is seeking official designation from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (Bethseda, Maryland). Beverly Mitchell, MD, professor of medicine and deputy director of the Stanford Cancer Center, said the Freidenrich gift will provide vitally needed support for that effort, helping the school expand its clinical research program, particularly in solid tumors, and develop novel drugs, among other things.
The center is also designed to make trials more readily accessible to patients and encourage them to participate — not always an easy task, Jill Freidenrich said. “The more who say yes to clinical trials, the faster we'll get answers,” she said.
Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions — Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.