Posted on January 24, 2013

Glenn Family Foundation Gives $10 Million for Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Center

Emory University has announced gifts totaling $10 million in support of its Winship Cancer Institute from the Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Family Foundation.

The gifts will help fund a center for breast cancer research and treatment, to be named the Glenn Family Breast Center at Winship, and will support a number of research priorities, including clinical trials and continued funding for the Glenn Scholars program, which awards grants to research scientists engaged in high-impact breast cancer research. The gifts also will bolster the institute's cancer biospecimen bank as well as a multidisciplinary approach to screening and caring for women at high risk of getting breast cancer — including research into triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease that disproportionately affects African-American women.

The gift is in appreciation for the care Winship provided to the Glenns' young adult daughter in 2003. The foundation previously funded an endowed chair in breast cancer research at Emory's School of Medicine.

"While our gifts target breast cancer, we hope that others will invest in Winship's research and exceptional care for all types of cancer so many more families can be helped," said Lou Glenn, a foundation trustee. "Just as we benefited from investments made years before we were touched by this disease, we are confident that this investment will help future patients survive and thrive."