Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce

100 Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce www.greatfallschamber.org M E D I C A L critical core facilities that support expansion of research infrastructure in rural health research. To accomplish the overall goals, Dr. Reijo Pera indicated that the CIB-RHR begins with four initial projects focused on neurological diseases, diseases that are common and distinctively devastating, in rural environments. In addition, Dr. Teresa Gunn will establish a core facility for Montana that is focused on gene editing and molecular analysis of models of human disease. The application for the CIB-RHR grant was made possible by community members that supported the mission of the Institute over the years and provided funding that was used to recruit new researchers to the Institute. Dr. Reijo Pera indicated that she is most appreciative of the support of community members over the last 70 years and especially Drs. Ann Tsukamoto- Weissman and Irv Weissman, who provided a gift of $5M that was invested directly in order to procure these outside federal funds. As Dr. Weissman noted: "NIH Centers of Excellence grants are very difficult to obtain. This is fantastic news and an awesome accomplishment that bodes well for the biomedical research enterprise in Great Falls and serves as a model for other rural states. The quality of science and leadership at the McLaughlin Research Institute is nationally recognized by this award." Dr. Weissman is the Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Professor of Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research at Stanford University and founder of several successful biomedical startup companies worth billions of dollars and grew up in Great Falls. He was the McLaughlin Research Institute's first intern under the founding director, Dr. Ernst Eichwald, in 1956. He has continually supported the Institute through the years since. Members of the Board of Directors, chaired by Randy Gray, a lawyer and former mayor of Great Falls include Bjarne Johnson, Gary Bjelland, David Cameron, George Carlson, Max Davis, Paul Eichwald, Randy Gray, John Lane, Erik Sletten and Cathie Tronson. The board also includes the Executive Director, Gene Thayer, and an honorary member, Arlene Reichert. Each has been dedicated to the mission of the Institute for many years and support the direction of the research to focus on rural health and opportunity for this and the next generation. As Randy Gray indicated, "MRI has been an amazing biomedical research leader for almost 70 years. As an independent not for profit entity in a rural state we have punched above our weight thanks to talented staff, a supportive board, and the generous contributions of donors. We are now entering a new chapter of partnerships and collaboration with Touro, Benefis and GF Clinic, among others. The major grant from our first intern, Dr. Irv Weissman and his wife Ann has given us further leverage through success with this renewable CoBRE grant. This will help ensure that bright young folks from all over can discover

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