23 January 2008

Ann Gloag donation to fund specialist heart nurse

Perthshire businesswoman Ann Gloag is to fund a specialist nurse to work with University of Dundee scientists battling heart disease.

Mrs Gloag has made a £100,000 donation to help fund a nurse to work at Matron level within The Institute of Cardiovascular Research (TICR) at the University. TICR is currently engaged in a £1million fundraising scheme which will enable it to employ two full-time nurses in the Institute for the next 10 years at least.

Mrs Gloag’s donation means the Institute can employ the first of these nurses.

"This is a magnificent donation from Mrs Gloag that will enable us to fill a vital post within the Institute," said Professor Jill Belch, director of TICR.

"This nurse will be working in vital areas such as prevention of heart attack, stroke and amputation, vascular disease in patients with diabetes and vascular disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, supporting the research we are doing here in Dundee."

Ann Gloag said, "I am delighted to fund this nursing post for the next three years, especially in such a world renowned Institute. As a former nurse, I truly believe that nursing is the cornerstone of good patient care and this post will complement the great work being done by everyone at TICR."

Mrs Shobna Vasishta, the fundraising Appeal Chairman, added, `Nurses are crucial to patient comfort and care, and we very much appreciate this important addition to our team. We are also grateful to Mrs Gloag for her continued support of this Appeal.’

TICR brings together teams of specialists in vascular biology, cardiac disease, nutrition, epidemiology and fundamental laboratory science to enable detection and intervention of heart-related diseases at an earlier stage.

Scotland is at the top of the league in Western Europe for Cardiovascular Disease. The scientists in the Institute are trying to reduce the burden of this disease in Tayside.

TICR has raised £4.5 million to date and the Centre of Excellence based at Ninewells Hospital Dundee is attracting world renowned researchers to help fight this killer disease.

The TICR group were given a major boost earlier this year when Perthshire businessman Brian Souter donated £2.1 million to allow the purchase and running of a new MRI Scanner .

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk