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A Gift for Helping OthersThe Becker Family Foundation shares BCM's commitment to improving livesby Jessica Rush
In July 2004, the BCM "family" received a multi-year pledge of $900,000 from the Becker Family Foundation. The funds will support three initiatives: $400,000 for BCM's Department of Pediatrics, $250,000 for the Pancreatic Islet Cell Transplantation Program in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, and $250,000 for the Alpha-1 Research Program in the Margaret M. and Albert B. Alkek Department of Medicine. "The Becker Family Foundation shares BCM's commitment to improving the lives of people in our community," said Gary Becker, whose parents established the foundation. "Our family has multiple areas of interest at the College, and we wanted to make a gift that would help provide care for children who would not otherwise receive it and that would further the success of essential research programs." Members of the Becker family who have made this gift possible include Allen and Shirley Becker and their children; Gary Becker and his wife Susan; Brian Becker and his wife Stacy; and Sunni Becker Markowitz and her husband Gary Markowitz. The family's gift provides $400,000 to BCM's Department of Pediatrics to support various specialty areas including cardiology, neonatology, endocrinology, oncology, gastroenterology, and neurology. "These pediatric medicine programs are stellar examples of the College's commitment to our community's children - and to all children," said Sunni Becker Markowitz. "We are grateful for the opportunity to support this work." The family's contribution also allocates $250,000 to the Pancreatic Islet Cell Transplantation Program in the Department of Surgery. The Program - under the direction of Dr. F. Charles Brunicardi, the DeBakey/Bard Chair of the Department, and Dr. John A. Goss, Associate Professor - achieved a breakthrough in the treatment of type I diabetes in 2002 when doctors from Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital, in cooperation with the Diabetes Research Institute in Miami, performed the first successful islet cell transplants in Texas. In this procedure, insulin-producing islet cells are transplanted from a donor pancreas into the recipient's liver. The goal is to develop a new treatment for type 1 diabetes that provides optimal blood glucose control and insulin independence without serious side effects. "We are extremely grateful to the Becker family for their support of this program," said Brunicardi. "This procedure is an alternative to a whole pancreas transplant, which is major surgery and carries a number of risks. There is, however, a tremendous amount of research to be done to expand the applications of this procedure, and the Becker family's gift will help provide much-needed resources to continue our research in this area." Brian Becker wholeheartedly favors his family's support of the College, including their contribution to yet another Baylor program, the Alpha-1 Research Program in the Department of Medicine. The family's multi-year contribution totaling $250,000 will be distributed to Baylor by the Alpha-1 Foundation, a research program at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville that is devoted to the study of Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. A common, but serious, hereditary disorder, Alpha-1 can result in life-threatening pediatric liver disease that requires transplantation, and in adult onset, degenerative lung disease that leads to repeated infections and progressive loss of lung function. An estimated 25 million people in the United States carry the single deficient gene that causes Alpha-1 and may pass the gene on to their children. The BCM program hopes to uncover the molecular mechanism responsible for the development of the liver disease in infants. "I hope that our family's gift will help provide improved health and a better standard of care for people living with this disorder," said Becker, who has Alpha-1 and serves on the Alpha-1 Foundation's Board of Directors. "The potential benefits of this research, particularly for infants and young children with the condition, are extraordinary, and I enthusiastically support BCM's efforts in this area." Longtime residents of Houston, the Becker family owned PACE Entertainment Group, the world's largest privately owned concert, theatrical and promotions company, until it was sold to SFX and then Clear Channel Entertainment in 2000. Allen Becker, currently the manager of Becker Interests, L.P., was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame in 2003 and received the Bernard B. Jakobs Award for Excellence in the American Theater in 2004. In addition to Baylor College of Medicine, the Becker family supports numerous civic, cultural, religious, and other medical causes. |
Patient CareWhen Executives Become 'Ill-Suited' ResearchEducationThe Responsibilities of Residents Coat Pockets Full of Knowledge Community ServiceAlumni & DevelopmentCollege News
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Volume 1, Issue 2, Summer 2005 |
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| Last modified: October 10, 2008 |
From an innovative surgical procedure for diabetes to studies of a rare liver disorder, a recent gift by the Becker Family Foundation of Houston will help support the efforts of three departments at Baylor College of Medicine.