NOV. 17, 2003 | Jackson T. Stephens of Little Rock has made another gift of $1.5 million to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), this time for a second endowed chair in geriatric medicine. The gift will be matched by $1.5 million previously committed to UAMS by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.

Stephens’ gift is his second to the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics in the UAMS College of Medicine. Pham Liem, M.D., a professor of medicine and vice chair for clinical affairs in the department, will be the first holder of the Jackson T. Stephens Distinguished Chair in Clinical Affairs. Liem is an attending physician at John L. McClellan Veterans Hospital. He is a specialist in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

“The gifts of Jackson T. Stephens and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to UAMS continue to inspire us,” UAMS Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., commented. “We appreciate their confidence in our ability to enhance the quality of health care for Arkansans and for people worldwide – and we will keep working to earn their support.”

Stephens contributed $1.5 million in 1999 for the Jackson T. Stephens Distinguished Chair in Geriatrics, which David Lipschitz, M.D., Ph.D., currently holds. He also has given $48 million to UAMS for the Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute, which opened in April. That gift included $2 million for the Jackson T. Stephens Distinguished Chair in Spine Surgery, which T. Glenn Pait, M.D., holds. Finally, Stephens gave $2.1 million this year for the Jackson T. Stephens Distinguished Chair in Orthopaedic Sports Medicine, which Jack VanderSchilden, M.D., holds.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation’s matching gift is part of a $15 million challenge grant that matches dollar for dollar funds raised for the UAMS geriatrics program. The foundation previously helped UAMS build the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging with gifts of $32 million. Most recently, it pledged an additional $3 million to complete a conference center on the top floor of the Stephens Institute, to be named in honor of the foundation’s chairman, Fred W. Smith.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named.  Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, it is one of the 50 largest private foundations in the United States.

Links on This Page

Department of Geriatrics: http://www.geriatrics.uams.edu/
Spine and Neurosciences Institute: http://www.uams.edu/stephensinstitute/default.html
President Jimmy Carter: http://www.uams.edu/today/2003/040303/President_Carter.htm
Donald W. Reynolds: http://www.uams.edu/today/2002/062802/reynolds.htm
 
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