Mayo Clinic Gets $10 Million For Alzheimer’s Work

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Two families have donated a total of $10 million to the Mayo Clinic to advance the progress of medical research in Alzheimer’s disease.
One family includes Edward and Leslye Phillips of Minneapolis, the son and daughter-in-law of “Dear Abby,” advice columnist Abigail Van Buren. The other family wishes to remain anonymous. The gifts form the largest contribution the clinic has received at one time for Alzheimer’s research.
The funding will enable the clinic to accelerate its research on improving understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and ultimately developing effective treatments.

“Our goal in studying Alzheimer’s disease is to develop an understanding that leads to improved therapy,” said Ronald L. Petersen, M.D., who leads Alzheimer’s research at the clinic. “This generous gift will aid us immeasurably as we seek to identify therapeutic targets for Alzheimer’s disease, drugs that hit those targets, and animal models in which we do pre-clinical testing to evaluate therapeutic efficacy.”