Summer 2012
Organ donor and volunteer David Murphy is running his first marathon to raise awareness about lung disease research at the U
It’s 5:45 a.m. and attorney David Murphy, 40, is lacing his shoes before heading out of his St. Paul home for a run. This routine is part of a training regimen for Murphy’s numerous 2012 races, which will culminate in his first 26.2-miler—the Twin Cities Marathon—in October.
Murphy is running to bring attention to the work under way at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Lung Science and Health and to honor his late mother, Judy Murphy, who had battled idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) before receiving a lung transplant in 2001. IPF is an incurable lung disease that causes lung scarring; slowly reducing lung function to zero.
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Spring 2012
Improving lung health abroad
U Medical School, public health students study mesothelioma in India
Learning became a global endeavor for Lan Luu and Emily Olson, both University of Minnesota students in the Medical School and School of Public Health, when they traveled to India last August for a research study on asbestos exposure and mesothelioma, a deadly lung cancer.
A gift to the U, lifetime income for you
If you would like to support groundbreaking research at the University of Minnesota and also receive steady income for life, a charitable gift annuity may be right for you. Through a simple contract, you agree to make a donation of cash, stocks, or other assets to the Minnesota Medical Foundation. In return, we agree to pay you a fixed amount each year for the rest of your life.
Fall 2011
U lung scientists recognized with national awards
Another member of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Lung Science and Health (CLSH) has received a major national award from the American Thoracic Society (ATS). In May, John Marini, M.D., a professor of medicine in the University’s Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine division, received the ATS Distinguished Achievement Award, which recognizes those “who have made outstanding contributions to fighting respiratory disease through research, education, patient care and advocacy.”
Spring 2011
Philanthropy propels new lung cancer research
Donor-funded research advances work of U lung cancer team
Every day in his University of Minnesota lab, researcher Joel McCauley, M.D., confronts a stubborn and challenging adversary -- lung cancer -- but he never labors in isolation. He works regularly with colleagues across the University to find more effective treatments.
New lungs offer a 'second chance'
CF patient gets a lifesaving lung transplant from U’s award-winning program
For Jamie Hammer, 31, cystic fibrosis (CF) has always been a major part of her daily life. Diagnosed when she was 5 months old, Jamie has always lived with daily chest-pounding therapies, 50-pills-a-day regimens, daily IV treatments, and a host of related complications. But this past winter, all that changed—for the better.
Fall 2010
Making the most of a second chance
U lung transplant recipient becomes a patient advocate, makes a planned gift
While skiing in Breckenridge, Colorado in, 1991, Ed Schuck found himself gasping for air, and it wasn’t just the altitude. Schuck, who was then age 51, was diagnosed with Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (Alpha-1) a genetic disease that can cause lung failure and liver disease. Alpha-1 is caused by decreased or abnormal production of a protein called alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT), which is produced by the liver and protects the lungs from inflammation and inhaled irritants.
U hospitals rank among nation's best
The University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview and University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital are again among an elite group of hospitals named the nation’s best by *U.S. News & World Report*. The annual rankings are based in part on reputation, death rate, and care-related factors such as nursing and patient services.
Spring 2010
Gratitude for decades of care
Family thanks U doctor for son’s care by supporting cystic fibrosis research
When Jason Swain was 18 months old, his parents noticed that he was not gaining weight and his sweat seemed salty. After several visits to the doctor, Jason’s family got the devastating diagnosis—Jason had cystic fibrosis. The year was 1972 and at that time children with cystic fibrosis (CF) were not expected to live to age 10.
Still running strong: After a double lung transplant at U of M, Liz Johnson runs half marathon
After a double lung transplant at U of M, Liz Johnson runs half marathon
While sitting in the lobby of the Transplant Center at University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, in May 2010, Liz Johnson spots one of her doctors as he turns the corner to leave the clinic. She quickly turns to her father, Dick: "Dad, there goes Dr. Kempainen. Go see if you can catch him. I want to show him my medal." Around her neck hangs a participation medal that she had earned only a few days earlier for running a half marathon back home in Lincoln, Nebraska.
U awarded $8.6M to manufacture stem cell therapies
The University of Minnesota has been awarded an $8.6 million contract to help speed the development of novel stem cell- and immune cell-based therapies from the laboratory to clinical trials through the Production Assistance for Cellular Therapies (PACT) program.
U researchers work to improve lung transplant survival rates
Each year, surgeons in the University of Minnesota’s Center for Lung Science and Health (CLSH) perform 20 to 50 lung transplants on patients who have pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)—all devastating illnesses for which transplants are often the only option.
