Johns Hopkins officials have announced a significant
financial commitment to Johns Hopkins Medicine from His
Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president
of the United Arab Emirates. Most of the gift, made in
honor of Sheikh Khalifa's late father, Sheikh Zayed bin
Sultan Al Nahyan, will support construction of The Johns
Hopkins Hospital's new cardiovascular and critical care
tower, currently under construction on the East Baltimore
campus.
In addition, some funds will go to the School of
Medicine Dean's Discretionary Fund to be directed to
cardiovascular research, and some have been earmarked for
AIDS research at the Johns Hopkins University-Makerere
University Collaborative Care Center, at Mulago Hospital in
Kampala, Uganda.
Johns Hopkins is respecting the donor's request that
the amount of the gift not be disclosed.
"This transformational gift is a testament not only to
the generosity of Sheikh Khalifa and his family but to
their vision," said university President William R. Brody.
"The care that will take place in this new tower will
benefit generations of patients, and the discoveries made
here will reach far beyond the campus in East Baltimore,
touching lives around the world."
The new Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Cardiovascular and Critical Care Tower is one of two
12-story towers being built as part of Johns Hopkins
Medicine's campus redevelopment. The 913,000-square-foot
tower, housing the Johns Hopkins Heart Institute, 355
patient beds, and operating rooms clustered with
catheterization labs and imaging suites, is designed to
marry the needs of a teaching hospital with the latest in
communication and information technology, including
wireless voice communications, wireless and high-speed
Internet access, and all-digital medical imaging available
in all labs, operating rooms and patient rooms.
"This magnificent gift is a true investment in the
future," said Edward D. Miller, the Frances Watt Baker,
M.D., and Lenox D. Baker Jr., M.D., Dean of the Medical
Faculty at the School of Medicine and chief executive
officer of Johns Hopkins Medicine. "We can only imagine
some of the advances that will occur within this building,
and we look forward to the near future, when work on the
building is finished and work in the building begins."
Ronald R. Peterson, president of The Johns Hopkins
Hospital and Health System and executive vice president of
Johns Hopkins Medicine, said, "Along with the critical work
of our physicians, nurses and staff, maintaining our
excellence requires 21st-century facilities to support
them, and it is the generosity of philanthropists such as
Sheikh Khalifa that makes such things possible."
The late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is credited
with guiding the establishment of the United Arab Emirates.
He was ruler of Abu Dhabi, the largest of the seven
emirates, and was president of the United Arab Emirates
from 1971 until his death in 2004.
Completion of the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Cardiovascular and Critical Care Tower, on which
construction began in 2007, is expected in December 2010.
"This gift comes at an important time for Johns
Hopkins Medicine," said Steven Rum, senior associate vice
president for development and alumni relations at Johns
Hopkins Medicine. "As we revitalize the East Baltimore
medical campus, we are grateful for the support and
leadership of the president of the U.A.E."
The gift is the latest in a series of connections
between Johns Hopkins and the United Arab Emirates. Last
year, for example, Johns Hopkins Medicine began managerial
oversight of health care systems in the emirate of Abu
Dhabi, including those at the prestigious Tawam Hospital;
the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine faculty also are
involved in a collaborative effort to improve the medical
education program there. And faculty from the university's
Bloomberg School of Public Health are working on a public
health doctoral program tailored to the needs of the United
Arab Emirates and are playing an advisory role in the
design of preventive health care strategies there.
The gift brings total commitments to the Johns Hopkins
Knowledge for the World campaign to more than $2.6
billion. Priorities of the campaign, which benefits
divisions of The Johns Hopkins University and The Johns
Hopkins Hospital and Health System, include strengthening
endowment for student aid and faculty support; advancing
research, academic and clinical initiatives; and building
and upgrading facilities on all campuses. The campaign
began in July 2000.