The Heart of the Matter
Approximately eight years ago, I fell off my bicycle and broke almost every bone in my neck. Now all my neck bones are fused, I have a plate with screws holding my bones together, and I can turn my head only partially.
At the time my wife to be, Irina, wanted me to go to University of California, San Francisco, (UCSF) a well-respected teaching hospital. She was notified by St. Helena Hospital that there were no beds available. She called her daughter Valeria, a research scientist, who worked for Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco. In turn, Valeria called the president of Gladstone Institutes Depak Drivastava who obtained a private room for me immediately at UCSF. I was operated upon the next day thanks to Depak by a great surgeon Dr. Mummaneni.
Through Valeria, Depak, Irina, and I became quasi friends. Three years ago, I found I had heart failure, specifically amyloidosis, so I donated two million dollars to Gladstone Institutes for heart research. Gladstone employs 600 scientists working to overcome various diseases.
Recently I visited the Gladstone Institutes which has two Nobel prize winners and decided to donate another $2,500,000, for a total of $4,500,000. I will sponsor an imminent scientist named Michael Alexanian to set up his own laboratory and to employ fellow scientists to study heart failure, specifically heart fibrosis and amyloidosis full-time.
I feel good about my donation. Hopefully, there will be a discovery that will help me, but more importantly, it will help a multitude of people suffering from heart failure in the future.
Thus, I have come full circle with Depak. He helped me eight years ago, and now I am helping his Gladstone Institutes to use science to overcome disease.
