Professor Louise Nicholson with her husband Jon, has made a generous gift of $1 million to University of Auckland researchers to help achieve a cure for spinal cord injury. The money will help support the work of PhD students undertaking spinal cord injury research.
It is the single largest donation ever made by a university staff member, a sum described as unprecedented by a grateful Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart McCutcheon. He said the couple’s financial support underlined the value of the university “to change lives for the better.”
Nicholson mentioned she was prompted to give something back to the place where she spent her working life because she treasured her academic career and the privilege of mentoring medical students.
A brain expert, the 64-year-old hopes the funds will help inspire the next generation of talented young scholars to make the breakthrough that all spinal cord researchers dearly want to see: Wheelchair users regaining the ability to walk.
Congratulations to the staff who have been awarded grants:
- School of Medicine Foundation/School of Medicine Foundation Project
Associate Professor Johanna Montgomery, Physiology
S J Taylor Fund: Characterising Long QT Syndrome mechanisms, severity and treatability in New Zealand patient-derived iPS cells
$285,952 - Dr Andrew Wood, Molecular Medicine and Pathology
P M Carroll Fund: Pathogenesis and Therapeutic Relevance of RARB Mutations in Leukaemia
$250,000 - Professor Peter Browett, Molecular Medicine and Pathology
Personalized Medicine in the Management of Blood Cancers
$240,000 - Genesis Oncology Trust/GENESIS Gavin Postdoctoral Fellowship
Dr Kathryn Burns, Molecular and Medicine and Pathology
The role of SLC23A1 and SLC23A2 in 5-fluorouracil cellular uptake, and their interindividual variability in target tissues
$183,950