New York, NY—April 6, 2007 -- The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies (ACBP) have given $12.5 million to establish the Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine at The Mount Sinai Medical Center. The Leadership Gift will help propel Mount Sinai to the forefront of personalized medicine, an emerging field that uses information about a person’s genetic make-up to customize strategies for the detection, treatment, and prevention of disease. At the highest level, Mr. Bronfman’s grant underscores the vital role philanthropy will play in advancing next-generation medical practice.
"Personalized medicine could be the most important scientific development of the 21st century," said Charles Bronfman, Chairman of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies. "In an industry like medicine, where market forces are slow to change, philanthropy must play the role of catalyst – facilitating growth, inspiring awareness, and serving as a basis for change. The Mount Sinai Medical Center has been a pacesetter in the area of personalized medicine and is a clear choice for receiving this grant."
Personalized medicine transforms the traditional "one-size-fits-all" model of medicine by utilizing new methods of molecular analysis to better manage a patient’s disease or predisposition toward a disease. It represents a dramatic departure from "evidence-based medicine," which is based on population studies and has dominated medical principles for decades. While the evidence-based approach does allow doctors to modify treatment strategies according to a particular patient's response, it relies on trial-and-error and lacks precision. Personalized medicine, on the other hand, gives doctors an answer based on an individual’s unique set of genes and thereby reduces uncertainty and error in diagnosis and treatment.
"The Mount Sinai Medical Center is poised to lead the most important medical revolution taking place today, and one that will have the biggest impact on the direction and growth of bioscience for the next few decades," said Kenneth L. Davis, M.D., President and CEO of the Medical Center. "Mr. Bronfman's generosity and vision will enable Mount Sinai to be at the forefront of this emerging field and bring each new achievement immediately to the aid of our patients."
The $12.5 million ACBP gift will be used to fund an institution-wide Biobank at Mount Sinai and to establish the Translational Biomedical Informatics Center, two areas of focus for the Institute for Personalized Medicine, seed-funding Mount Sinai's overall $30 million personalized medicine initiative. The grant will be paid out over a period of 10 years.
"Since its inception, the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies have emphasized innovation and new business models as a core component in its grant making decisions," said Dr. Jeffrey Solomon, President of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies. "Personalized medicine is something that will fundamentally alter the medical industry and will forever redefine the role of ubiquitous players such as insurance and pharmaceutical companies. We believe that our investment in personalized medicine and in The Mount Sinai Medical Center, will have exponentially greater social benefit in the coming decades."
"It’s called a ‘leadership grant’ because it sends a clear message to the world that medical innovation can not happen without the dedication and support of community visionaries," said Dennis S. Charney, M.D., Dean of Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs of The Mount Sinai Medical Center. "This gift will bridge the gap between genomics research and clinical patient care in the area of personalized medicine, and will reinforce Mount Sinai’s role as a leader in both of these important areas."
"The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine at Mount Sinai will be a breakthrough in this increasingly exciting field," said Erwin Böttinger, M.D., Director of the Institute, Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology and of Biological Chemistry, and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Medicine. "The uniquely seamless relationship between our hospital and our medical school has Mount Sinai poised to lead research efforts as personalized medicine continues to develop and to immediately translate our advances to benefit our patients on a clinical level."
Mr. Bronfman has served on the Mount Sinai Boards of Trustees since 2002. Along with his late wife, Andrea Morrison Bronfman, he has supported the Emergency Room Renovation Project, the Stephen M. Peck Jewish Chapel, the President's Fund, and the Crystal Ball. Charles Bronfman's brother, Edgar Bronfman, was also a member of the Mount Sinai Board of Trustees, from 1957 to 1985. The Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai was named in honor of their father.
Crystal Noble, 781-487-0002, x.14
crystal@louderthanwords.com
$12.5 Million Philanthropic Gift to Catalyze
Next Generation of Genomics-based Medicine at
The Mount Sinai Medical Center
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses the Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The Mount Sinai Hospital is one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. Founded in 1852, Mount Sinai today is a 1,171-bed tertiary-care teaching facility that is internationally acclaimed for excellence in clinical care. Last year, nearly 50,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients, and there were nearly 450,000 outpatient visits to the Medical Center."
Mount Sinai School of Medicine is an internationally recognized as a leader in groundbreaking clinical and basic-science research, as well as innovative approached to medical education. With a faculty of more than 3,400 in 38 clinical and basic science departments and centers, Mount Sinai ranks among the top 20 medical schools in receipt of National Institute of Health (NIH) grants.
About The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies
The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies (ACBP) is among the most recognized and influential organizations in the philanthropic and Jewish worlds. A global family of charitable foundations, ACBP’s many arms are united by an unwavering commitment to investing in next generations. By combining its clear focus on youth with an array of ambitious and forward-thinking initiatives, ACBP has empowered a generation of young people to actively connect with their communal history and traditions so that they can ensure its viability for the future. ACBP is on the Web at http://www.ACBP.net.