Since the Miller School of Medicine admitted its first class of medical students in 1952, it has trained generations of physicians and researchers to enhance the health and well-being of South Florida and beyond. Ever Brighter: The University of Miami’s Campaign for Our Next Century took that work to another level.
With almost $1.5 billion raised for the Miller School and UHealth – University of Miami Health System — more than half of the campaign’s nearly $2.7 billion total — donors nearly doubled UM’s endowment, expanded scholarships and powered groundbreaking research across fields from neurology to oncology.
Here’s a look at some of what Ever Brighter accomplished:
Growing Our Endowment:
REALIZING A BOLD TOMORROW
Gifts to the university’s endowment ensure support for physician-researchers and their work for generations, resulting in extraordinary benefits for the patients and communities we serve. Ever Brighter expanded UM’s endowment to almost twice its size and funded 54 new endowed positions, empowering biomedical researchers to pursue bold ideas. Our leadership can recruit and retain world-renowned physician-scientists, who are attracted by our ability to offer endowed positions. And many of our medical students have access to extraordinary opportunities through endowed scholarships, which will help finance their education and fuel their innovation.
Contributions to our endowment included the following:
- An anonymous gift to Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, the largest in the campaign and made in honor of Sylvester Director Stephen D. Nimer, M.D., matched many endowment gifts to the Cancer Center during the campaign, accelerating break-throughs in treatments for cancer.
- The Desai Sethi Family Foundation provided a generous gift to advance the field of urology. Under the leadership of Dipen J. Parekh, M.D., the Desai Sethi Urology Institute’s founding director, a substantial portion of the gift supports our endowment and led to a dramatic rise in the institute’s rank in NIH urology research funding.
- Mark J. Daily, M.D., Residency ’77, established the Mark J. Daily Inherited Retinal Diseases Center at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute to focus on finding new treatments and, hopefully, cures for inherited retinal diseases. His generosity also endowed a chair that supports a top researcher in this area.
- Michelle Bowman Underwood’s extraordinary planned gift will create five endowed chairs to advance women’s health through prevention, early detection and treatment.
Expanding Our Scholarships:
EMPOWERING THE NEXT GENERATION
Ever Brighter funded substantial increases in scholarships for our current and prospective medical students. Tatiana Lawer-Garcia, M.D., and Nelson Garcia, M.D., both from the class of 1996, established the Garcia-Morales Endowed Medical Scholarship to pay forward the support they received, ensuring future students can pursue medicine without financial burden.
Thanks to our exceptionally generous supporters, a substantial portion of gifts to scholarships were raised in the final year of the campaign, making it one of the best scholarship fundraising years in our history.
Celebrating Our Neuroscience Division:
EXCEPTIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS, AMBITIOUS GOALS
U.S. News & World Report ranked our neuroscience program No. 23 in the nation this year, largely thanks to donor-funded research. And no wonder — UHealth/MSOM’s neuroscientists are tireless in their efforts to understand the aging brain and develop treatments that result in longer, better lives for the rapidly growing senior population of South Florida.
The Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation supported James E. Galvin, M.D., M.P.H., and the Lewy Body Dementia Research Center of Excellence, enabling biomarker discovery for Parkinson’s disease, LBD and related diseases. Stephen Bittel’s gift established the Movement Disorders Clinical and Research Support Fund, fueling bold experimentation toward Parkinson’s cures.
Genetics:
UNLOCKING THE CODE TO ALZHEIMER’S
Ever Brighter propelled breakthroughs in genetics, including the work of renowned researchers like Margaret Pericak-Vance, Ph.D., who discovered the APOE∑4 risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, the leading genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Her research transformed the field and laid the foundation for treatments that will benefit all populations.
Beyond Ever Brighter:
TRANSFORMATIONAL GIFTS
Long after this campaign — and well into the university’s next century — these enduring gifts from our donors will still be making an impact across UHealth and the Miller School of Medicine:
- Kenneth C. Griffin’s landmark naming gift established the Kenneth C. Griffin Cancer Research Building, doubling Sylvester’s research space and expanding access to clinical trials.
- The Diabetes Research Institute Foundation enabled breakthroughs in type 1 diabetes, including:
- Zimislecel (VX-880) a cell therapy restoring endogenous insulin production in patients with T1D
- Teplizumab, the first FDA-approved drug to delay T1D onset
- Lois Pope, inspired by her mother’s vision loss, founded the Lois Pope Center for Retinal and Macular Degeneration Research at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, equipped with advanced imaging to pursue cures for blinding diseases.
To Our Donors:
WE COULDN’T HAVE DONE THIS WITHOUT YOU
Thank you for your generous support. You’ve helped us realize a healthier, stronger and safer future for South Florida. These accomplishments represent just a small part of the generosity made possible through Ever Brighter.
Ever Brighter by the NUMBERS
From endowed chairs and scholarships to transformative capital projects, UM’s Ever Brighter campaign delivered measurable impact to its academic medical center
