The campaign to fund the University of Dundee's Institute of Cardiovascular Research (TICR) has taken a giant leap forward this week after donations with a combined total of £1/2 million were received within days of each other.
A massive £400,000 grant from the London-based Wolfson Foundation, announced today, and a generous donation last Friday of £100,000 from Dundee's Leng Trust amounts to nearly half of what has already been raised during the campaign's first 18 months. The funds bring TICR significantly closer to reaching its target of £3.5 million to build a centre of excellence at Ninewells Hospital, the sole purpose of which is to fight Britain's number one killer - cardiovascular disease. A total of just over £1 million has now been raised.
Scotland is at the top of the league in Western Europe for cardiovascular disease in all its guises - heart attacks, heart failure, stroke, angina and disease of the blood vessels and arteries. Scots make up for just over 10% of the UK's annual 236,000 victims and,worryingly, recent surveys show that one in five children aged 14 already show some evidence of cardiovascular problems.
TICR will combat the scourge of cardiovascular disease by bringing together six research groups who will co-ordinate their different skills. Cardiology, stroke medicine, pharmacology, vascular surgery, epidemiology and nutrition all have their part to play.
Professor Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe of the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, the senior researcher in the group said "All my colleagues are delighted that the many continuing smaller contributions and fund-raising efforts for TICR, are now being supplemented by those from the big hitters. These substantial grants will help us to further the TICR objective 'to slow, stop and reverse cardiovascular disease' but there is a way to go and further donations will still be needed."
Robert McLaren, chairman of the TICR fundraising committee said, 'We are absolutely overwhelmed by the generosity of the Wolfson Foundation and the Leng Trust. We are always delighted with donations of any size, but to receive half a million pounds within one week is fantastic. We are now well on target to reach the £3.5 total within the next two years."
Dr Stuart Fair, trustee of the Leng Trust, said, "We are glad to be donating funds to TICR as it is a leading light in the research of what is the UKs number one killer."