Originally Released: April 15, 2000
Contact: Gwen Fariss Newman, gnewman@umm.edu, 410-328-8919
Larry Roberts, lroberts@som.umaryland.edu, 410-706-7590

$2 MILLION MBNA GIFT WILL ESTABLISH NATION'S FIRST CHAIR IN TRAUMA SURGERY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Surprise Gift Unveiled at Shock Trauma's 30th Anniversary Celebration Gala

A $2 million gift from MBNA America Bank, N.A., and its senior officers will enable the University of Maryland School of Medicine to establish the nation's first endowed chair in trauma surgery. The endowment was announced Saturday night at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center's annual fundraising gala at the Towson Center.

"This generous gift highlights the vital importance of trauma care in today's healthcare environment, the tremendous progress made in trauma care in just the last few decades and the potential for further life-saving discoveries," says Donald E. Wilson, M.D., M.A.C.P., Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine." This endowed chair will provide new opportunities to develop further advances in trauma research, education and care."

"Through MBNA's generosity, we will be able to continue Shock Trauma's leadership in saving lives and in advancing the science of trauma care," says Morton I. Rapoport, M.D., President and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical System." This gift will allow us to continue our mission to provide excellent patient care through pioneering research, training and the use of state-of-the-art technology."

The new trauma surgery chair will be named in honor of Francis X. Kelly, the former Maryland State senator who was the primary sponsor of legislation that created the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center.

"We are honored to make it possible to establish a chair in the name of our very close friend Frank Kelly, whose foresight and advocacy helped the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center become a pioneer in trauma surgery," said MBNA America Chairman and CEO Charles M. Cawley.

The gift was announced Saturday night at the Shock Trauma Gala, where more than 1,000 people gathered to applaud the heroic efforts of the more than 35,000 emergency medical services providers statewide.

"We couldn't be more pleased and excited by this gift," says John Ashworth, director of the Shock Trauma Center. "We thank Charlie Cawley and MBNA for this wonderful gift, which is testimony to their continued support to advance trauma care through research and education."

The University of Maryland, under the vision and leadership of Dr. R Adams Cowley, pioneered the concept of immediate care for trauma patients and founded the world's first official shock trauma unit in the 1960s.

"Our mission is very simple," Ashworth says." Saving lives. That has not changed in 30 years. This generous gift will allow us to build on this philosophy and will affect not only patients here in Baltimore, but throughout the world."

For Former Senator Kelly, the $2 million endowment naming the new chair in trauma surgery in his honor came as a complete surprise. But it follows a long history of his personal support of the Shock Trauma Center and its mission.

Kelly helped create legislation in 1984 that transformed the University of Maryland Hospital into a private, not-for-profit corporation to become, in a partnership with the School of Medicine, one of the nation's finest academic medical centers. Kelly continues to serve as a member of the University of Maryland Medical System Board of Directors, as well as chairman of the Shock Trauma Center Board of Visitors.

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This page was last updated on: March 12, 2008.