Campaign Update
Campaign Tops $277 Million, Surpassing Halfway Point
Duke University Medical Center's Keeping the Promise of Medicine campaign has surpassed
the halfway point, raising $277 million on its way to reaching a goal of $550 million.
"The campaign is having an important impact on the people and programs at the
Medical Center," said Joseph S. Beyel, vice chancellor for development and alumni
affairs at DUMC. "Those who believe in Duke have enabled us to create exciting new
opportunities for our faculty and students and are helping us to transform the way
medicine is practiced."
Campaign funds provide resources to support several priority areas at the Medical
Center. The campaign seeks to attract the best medical and nursing students by creating a
range of new endowed scholarships and fellowships, support and retain superior faculty
members through endowed chairs and instructorships, and bolster Duke's nationally and
internationally known research efforts.
During the 1998-1999 fiscal year, friends and alumni contributed more than $63 million
to the campaign, setting a new record in philanthropy at DUMC - this is the third straight
year that DUMC has witnessed a record year in fund-raising. The Davison Club surpassed $1
million for the first time, and all unrestricted giving from alumni, parents, and patients
reached nearly $1.4 million - up 11.5 percent from FY1998 and 40 percent from FY1997.
During the course of the campaign, which began its "quiet phase" fund-raising
efforts on Jan. 1, 1996, DUMC has received major gifts from an array of individuals,
foundations, and corporations. Following are examples of how gifts have had an impact on
the diverse people and programs at DUMC.
- John P. McGovern, MD'45, a Duke School of Medicine alumnus and a noted
allergist-immunologist from Houston, has given $6.5 million to Duke University Medical
Center to help fund the new children's health center. The McGovern-Davison Children's
Health Center is named in honor of McGovern and his longtime mentor and friend, the late
Wilburt Cornell Davison, MD, a pediatrician who was the first dean of Duke's School of
Medicine.
- The Duke Endowment has contributed $5 million toward construction of the children's
health center. The Endowment's gift also was made in honor of Dean Davison and his lasting
impact on the Medical Center.
- Pledges totaling $550,000 have been received from two longtime friends of the Duke Eye
Center to fulfill the Robert Machemer, MD, Professorship in Ophthalmology. One of the
pledges was a challenge gift from G. Allen Mebane of Greensboro, N.C., for whom Duke's
Vitreoretinal Service is named. The other donor wishes to remain anonymous.
- Edward G. Bowen, MD'59, HS'59-'60 and his wife, Mary Martin D. Bowen, G'59, have
committed $1 million to the Georgia Scholarship Endowment at Duke University School of
Medicine.
- Greensboro businessman and Duke University alumnus Robert P. Gorrell and his wife Sarah
will give $2.1 million to Duke University Medical Center to help children who suffer from
psychiatric problems. The deferred gift will endow the Gorrell Chair in Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry in Duke's Department of Psychiatry. The commitment is in honor of
Gorrell's 45th Duke class reunion last fall.
- William T. "Bill" Stover of Greensboro has committed $1 million to aid Duke
cancer researchers on two fronts. In honor of his mother, Ophelia Stover of Whitsett,
N.C., he established $500,000 endowment for lung cancer research. A second $500,000
endowment, the William T. and Kathryn Stover Fund, will provide funds for new initiatives
in cancer research and patient care.
- George H. "Trey" Turner III of Cary, N.C., has established a $50,000 endowment
for scholarships at the Duke School of Nursing in honor of his wife, Associate School of
Nursing Dean Barbara Swope Turner. The gift is in celebration of their 27th wedding
anniversary.
"All of our fund-raising successes are inextricably linked to our partners at Duke
- faculty and staff, alumni, board members, administrators, and friends. I want to thank
our partners for their dedication of resources and time to philanthropy at Duke,"
said Beyel.
The public phase of the Keeping the Promise of Medicine campaign will extend through
December 31, 2003. The Medical Center's campaign is part of the Campaign for Duke, a
University-wide fund-raising drive that has a cumulative goal of $1.5 billion.
