Posted on September 12, 2012

Oregon Health & Science University Receives $10 Million Bequest

The Oregon Health & Science University Foundation has announced a gift of more than $10 million from the estate of Garthe and Grace Brown to fund innovative cardiac research.

Established through the Portland-based Oregon Community Foundation, the Garthe Brown and Grace L. Brown Fund II will support OHSU's pioneering heart research in perpetuity. OHSU's Division of Cardiovascular Medicine is headed by Sanjiv Kaul, who pioneered microbubble-based myocardial contrast echocardiography, a non-invasive diagnostic procedure that can detect heart attacks missed by other methods, thereby reducing the need for hospital stays. Researchers at OHSU — where the first artificial heart valve was successfully implanted — also are advancing knowledge of the genetic underpinnings of cardiac disease, developing new drugs that protect against stroke, and repairing heart defects in babies still in the womb.

The Browns' longstanding philanthropic support of OHSU was inspired by the care their son received there. An earlier gift from their estate established the Garthe and Grace L. Brown Lecture in Heart Disorders, which, beginning next spring, will bring experts from around the world to share the latest advances in heart failure prevention.

"The Browns' generous investment will ensure that OHSU's innovative cardiac research will benefit patients for many generations to come," said Constance French, interim president of the OHSU Foundation. "Grateful patients and their families account for a significant percentage of estate gifts made to OHSU — even when the experience took place years or decades prior to the gift."