Philanthropist Lois Pope Gives $10 Million to the University of Miami to Establish Fund for Neuroscience Research in Memory of Her Daughter
The donation will establish the Lois Pope Neuroscience Research Fund and name the Lois Pope Laboratory Wing at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis in memory of Lorraine Pope.
Lois Pope watched with dismay as her daughter Lorraine suffered from Alzheimer’s disease before her death earlier this year.
Wanting to honor Lorraine’s memory and do more to help others afflicted with the disease that progressively strips its victims of their memory, cognitive skills and the ability to perform simple everyday tasks, Lois Pope, one of the country’s foremost female philanthropists, announced today that she is making a $10 million gift to name the Lois Pope Laboratory Wing in memory of Lorraine Pope, located at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis housed in the Lois Pope LIFE Center.
The donation will establish the Lois Pope Neuroscience Research Fund to support the advancement of research in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological and neurodegenerative diseases and disorders.
The new donation is the third eight-figure contribution Lois Pope has made to the University of Miami. In 2000, her $10 million gift to The Miami Project led to the building of the Lois Pope LIFE Center, which is the permanent home to The Miami Project, the nation’s foremost center for research and treatment of spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries and other neurological diseases and disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, multiple sclerosis and stroke. The center will now also be home to the newly named laboratory wing, in honor of her generosity.
In 2020, Lois Pope made a $12 million donation, in honor of her mother who was afflicted with macular degeneration, to establish the Lois Pope Center for Retinal and Macular Degeneration Research at the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Two years ago, Mrs. Pope made another $1 million contribution to Bascom Palmer to advance its initiative to develop the world’s first whole-eye transplant, and to create Lois’ Vision4Kids.
“Alzheimer’s is an insidious disease,” Lois Pope said. “Knowing how it robbed my daughter of any recognition of who I and other family members were, and who she herself was, couldn’t have been more heartbreaking. So, I knew I had to do something to try and help to eradicate it or at least mitigate its symptoms. While there has been progress over the past few years in therapies to slow the disease, early detection methods and even how the disease develops in the brain, I wanted to give this work a real jolt. Plus, I wanted to do it at a place that is not only in my home state but is also recognized for doing cutting-edge research in Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases and disorders in the Lois Pope LIFE Center.”
“Lois Pope’s generosity has touched so many lives all over the world. We could not be more grateful for her continued belief in, and support of, the basic and translational research we conduct in the Lois Pope LIFE Center. Our approach to some of the most challenging neurological conditions, acute injuries and more progressive neurodegenerative disorders known to man uniquely positions us to advance new research findings and translate them with the goal of transforming people’s lives,” said W. Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D., scientific director, The Miami Project, the Kinetic Concepts Distinguished Chair in Neurosurgery, senior associate dean for team science, co-director of the Institute for Neural Engineering and professor of neurological surgery at the Miller School.
More than one-billion people worldwide suffer from some form of neurological injury, disease or disorder. Brain injury is a significant risk factor leading to cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Lois Pope’s generous gift will help advance neuroscience programs to develop new diagnostic approaches and the development of novel, therapeutic interventions to target disease mechanisms to ultimately improve the quality of life for patients.
Tags: Alzheimer's disease, dementia, Lois Pope, Lois Pope Center for Retinal and Macular Degeneration Research, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, W. Dalton Dietrich