Walter Annenberg has committed an additional $1 million to the Rothman Orthopaedic Surgery Research Campaign, boosting the total of his contribution to the campaign to $3 million. The latest gift of $1 million is to be used specifically for the relocation of the Rothman Orthopaedic Surgery program from Pennsylvania Hospital to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Support by the Annenberg Foundation of the Rothman Orthopaedic Surgery program is atypical, as the primary focus of the Foundation's effort remains the restructuring and reform of our nation's public education system. Ambassador Annenberg continues to assist the Rothman Orthopaedic Surgery program by virtue of a long-standing association with its director, Richard H. Rothman, MD, PhD.
Ambassador Annenberg's newest pledge brings the current total raised by the Campaign to $8.7 million (including federal funding) which surpasses the first phase goal of $7.4 million and brings the campaign beyond the halfway point of its final goal of $16.2 million.
In 1993, Ambassador Annenberg issued the Annenberg Challenge, which promised $2 million to Orthopaedic Surgery Research if $5.7 million could be raised from other sources. This challenge has now been met with significant matching contributions from the Biomet Corporation ($1,250,000), Good Samaritan Foundation ($500,000) and William Stamps Farish Fund ($225,000), as well as from the Chichester du Pont Foundation and the Maxwell Strawbridge Trust ($100,000 each).
Other notable contributors include: Richard Balderston, MD; Jerome Cotler, MD; Charles Harrington; Charles Kopp; William Lewis Jr.; Alice Mills; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Price; Richard H. Rothman, MD, PhD; Harold Schaeffer; Bayard Sharp; Lloyd and Betty Schumacker; and Elmira Scott.
The Orthopaedic Research Laboratory at Jefferson is one of the nation's leading orthopaedic research centers. Its research program is currently ranked by the National Institutes of Health as third nationwide and first in Pennsylvania among all academic health centers.
The Laboratory is engaged in investigation of the biology of skeletal tissues, as related to their development, growth, aging and disease, and the interaction between orthopaedic implants and human tissue.