Today, in the weekend section of the Wall Street Journal, Elizabeth Bernstein dubbed a donation of $10 million to the Mount Sinai School of Medicine "the Gift of the Week." The funds, presented by Leon D. Black, a founding partner of Apollo Management, L.P., were provided with the express purpose of supporting six new scientists, equipment for a stem cell lab, and a seminar series, all of which will constitute the Black Family Stem Cell Institute.
According to Mr. Black, a trustee of Mount Sinai, he wanted to create the institute because he understands that stem cell research might one day produce treatments and cures for a host of human diseases, conditions that cause suffering and premature death, such as cancer and Alzheimer's Disease. "It's not getting enough funding because of the politics involved," said Mr. Black, a political independent who has supported both Democratic and Republican candidates.
Due to the block on federal funding for research on any embryonic stem cells created after August of 2001, researchers have had to focus much of their effort on gaining independent financial support, energy, and time that might be more productive if it could be put to use in the lab. For some time, Mount Sinai had been seeking to create an institute to study both embryonic and adult stem cells, and to merge different programs of ongoing stem cell research at the school, in the hopes of speeding up progress in the stem cell field. Many argue that the U.S. has fallen behind in such research as a direct result of a lack of federal funds. Indeed, in the last month dramatic progress has been made in South Korea, the UK, and Canada.
Mr. Black was given several options for which programs to fund, including three different stem cell institute proposals. Black agreed to the $10 million plan, the largest of the three.
Black's donation was indeed the gift of the week. More than a gift of money, it was a gift of opportunity to determine what understanding, treatment, or cures stem cells, particularly of the embryonic variety, have to offer. Years from now, his donation, and others like it, may even be considered a gift of life. The fact is, with restrictions on federal funding, it will take us longer to find out.
Aubrey Stimola is Assistant Director of Public Health at the American Council on Science and Health, the staff of which has produced publications such as Toxic Terror that criticize excessive health fears.
