HSS Completes Campaign for Research

Exceeding Goal, Unprecedented Drive Raises Over $115 Million

Discovery to Recovery, the Campaign for Research, has made fund-raising history at Hospital for Special Surgery. As of January 1, 2006, the Campaign raised $115,736,550 in philanthropic support to reconstruct laboratories, recruit and retain renowned scientists, advance novel investigations, and strengthen the research endowment. The Campaign helped transform HSS research – from the physical plant to the depth and focus of scientific expertise.

Campaign milestones are many. The Starr Foundation gave the largest aggregate gift the Hospital has ever received in its 142-year history: $19 million. The Campaign attracted more than 2,200 new donors. Twenty-one named chairs and fellowships were established, more than half in response to a challenge grant from an anonymous benefactor. Research endowments totaling $10.4 million were boosted by an unprecedented $9 million bequest.

The impact of the Campaign is equally extraordinary. HSS has conducted the largest recruitment drive in its history. Expanded, state of- the-art laboratories have increased the quantity and quality of investigations. The Hospital vaulted to the fourth rank among the top ten independent hospitals in New York State receiving federal awards from the National Institutes of Health.

The Campaign for Research has provided key resources to acquire state-of the-art tools for exploring new technologies. For example, HSS scientists can now create detailed, three-dimensional computer models of bone to predict how joint implants will perform in the human body. Below, a spectrum of colors forecasts the amount and degree of bone damage that might result from a new joint design, currently being studied in collaboration with a corporate partner.

Of course, the most important measure of success is HSS’s capacity to improve quality of life through treatments derived from a greater understanding of disease. This has been fortified by the scientific talent and new resources made possible by the Campaign and by a culture of physician-scientist collaboration that is stronger than ever before.

Expanding Investigations

In order to maximize the benefits of teamwork, HSS combined a series of distinct laboratories into four powerful disease-oriented programs: Musculoskeletal Integrity, Autoimmunity and Inflammation, Arthritis and Tissue Degeneration, and Tissue Engineering and Repair. This reorganization has been critical to fostering collaboration across disciplines by focusing on those clinically relevant questions where the intellectual efforts of scientific faculty and medical staff converge. Moreover, it has helped guide the recruitment of scientists, as well as improve opportunities for NIH support and increased participation in multi-institutional research initiatives.

Dedicated individual and foundation Campaign supporters have committed crucial funds for discovery. HSS trustees Charles H. Theriot, William R. Salomon, and James R. Houghton provided essential support early on in the Campaign. Donors have contributed nearly $50 million to advance novel investigations.

The F.M. Kirby Foundation and The Clark Foundation have provided critical seed funding for research in musculoskeletal integrity through investigations in biomedical mechanics and novel biomaterials that can be used in the replacement of joints, cartilage, and meniscal tissues. An anonymous benefactor was instrumental in the establishment of a Children and Adolescent Hand and Arm (CHArm) Center, dedicated to research, education and the treatment of children with hand and upper extremity conditions, including cerebral palsy. Research into musculoskeletal conditions that are prevalent in childhood has been generously supported by donors, including the Norman and Rosita Winston Foundation, the William T. Morris Foundation, and HSS trustee Mary Kay Farley, who focused her generosity on research into Marfan syndrome.

Rheuminations, Inc. boosted autoimmunity and inflammation research through the creation of The Mary Kirkland Center for Lupus Research, dedicated to better understanding the causes of lupus, a “model” autoimmune disease, and developing new therapies. The Leonard Wagner Charitable Trust is enabling HSS to explore the molecular and cellular basis of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Cells, above, glow green due to a staining process that reveals the presence of autoreactive antibodies capable of destroying the body’s tissues. Under normal conditions, antibodies are produced by B cells to protect the body against infection and disease. HSS scientists are studying why autoreactive antibodies are inappropriately produced by activated B cells in patients with autoimmune conditions.

HSS trustee David H. Koch, Linda Gosden Robinson, and the Estate of Franchellie M. Cadwell significantly strengthened the Hospital’s commitment to understanding and preventing arthritis and tissue degeneration. Support for the Hospital’s fledgling Arthritis and Tissue Degeneration Program is underwriting the basic science needed to develop novel approaches to prevent tissue destruction in patients with arthritis and related diseases. HSS developed the Gosden Robinson Early Arthritis Center to improve prompt detection and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Mr. and Mrs. Russell L. Carson are helping to advance research into tissue regeneration and repair through the Orthopedic Clinical Research Incubator, where scientists are working to improve tendon to bone healing following surgery and investigate age-related differences in bone fracture healing.

A Design for the Future

The Hospital’s capacity to undertake groundbreaking research flourished with the renovation and expansion of the Caspary Research Building. Built in 1958, it had undergone only one major renovation since construction. Since that time, advances in medicine and technology skyrocketed, and the way that research is conducted moved from an emphasis on the work of individual scientists to collaborative programs. Moreover, over the past four decades, the HSS Research Division grew from a handful of scientists to more than 80 of the best and brightest minds in orthopedics, rheumatology, and their related sciences.

In the Laboratory for Soft Tissue Research, Chih-Tung Chen, PhD, and Chisa Hidaka, MD, are uncovering important information about the properties of cartilage, the reasons for its vulnerability following injury, and potential breakthrough discoveries for its repair and recovery.

Thanks to crucial support from The Starr Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the Edwin S. Webster Foundation, and philanthropist Franchellie M. Cadwell, as well as an infusion of government funding at the federal, state, and local levels, the Hospital has rebuilt its laboratories to accommodate past and future growth and promote today’s integrative approach to musculoskeletal research. The Caspary Building now houses nine floors and boasts 72,000 square feet dedicated to research, more than double the original amount of laboratory space. Small, isolated laboratories have been replaced by an open design, allowing for an increased number of investigations and facilitating the free exchange of ideas that is so important to catalyzing scientific discoveries.

By strengthening the Hospital’s ability to recruit and retain scientific talent and initiate novel investigations, the new research laboratories have enhanced the Research Division’s ability to garner federal funding, an important measure of its vitality. For FY 2004, new federal funding to HSS increased to $12 million from $9 million, an increase of 33% over FY 2003. In fact, since the Caspary renovation began in 1999, the Hospital’s funding from the National Institutes of Health increased by a staggering 300%.

Building a Critical Mass

Thanks to the generosity of an invaluable group of dedicated philanthropists, HSS now has nine endowed research chairs, including the Starr Chairs in Mineralized Tissue Research and Tissue Engineering, the David H. Koch Chair for Arthritis and Tissue Degeneration Research, the Franchellie M. Cadwell Chair, the Collette Kean Research Chair, the Virginia F. and William R. Salomon Chair in Musculoskeletal Research, the Benjamin M. Rosen Chair in Immunology and Inflammation Research, the St. Giles Chair in Pediatric Genetic Research, and the Russell F. Warren Research Chair.

X-ray diffraction is used by Adele Boskey, PhD, Starr Chair in Mineralized Tissue Research, to understand the crystalline structure of bone mineral – information that can be key to helping predict the risk of developing bone disorders such as osteoporosis.

In addition, HSS has created 12 research fellowships, including the Helen Frankenthaler Fellowship in Restorative Mobility, the William T. Morris Fellowship in Pediatric Rheumatology, the Finn and Barbara Caspersen Fellowship for Spine Research, the Mary Rodgers and Henry Guettel Fellowship in Biomedical Mechanics, the Nancy Dickerson Whitehead Research Fellowship, the Ira W. DeCamp Fellowship in Musculoskeletal Genetics, the Charles Christian Research Fellowship, the Leo Farbman Fellowship in Pediatric Musculoskeletal Research, the Ludwig Fellowship in Women’s Sports Medecine Research, the Biomedical Ethics Research fellowship, the Cellular Research in Arthroplasty Fellowship, and the Immunology and Inflammation Fellowship.

In the past two years, HSS considerably strengthened its cohort of young scientists thanks to Campaign support and the efforts of HSS Chair Emeritus Richard L. Menschel. The Hospital added three exceptional basic scientists to the Arthritis and Tissue Degeneration Program: Carl P. Blobel, MD, PhD, Inez Rogatsky, PhD, and Paul Edward Purdue, PhD. Research into autoimmune and inflammatory disease has been deepened with the addition of basic scientist Eric Meffre, PhD, and pediatric rheumatologist Theresa Lu, MD, PhD. Research and development of new implant technologies and biologic solutions to cartilage injury has been broadened with the appointment of Suzanne Maher, PhD, an interdisciplinary mechanical engineer. Most recently, HSS welcomed Marjana Tomic-Canic, PhD, who will focus on wound healing as part of new research efforts in tissue engineering and repair.

HSS has recruited a cohort of new scientists who add tremendous value to its world-renowned research faculty. From left to right, they include Marjana Tomic-Canic, PhD, Carl Blobel, MD, PhD, Paul Edward Purdue, PhD, Eric Meffre, PhD, Inez Rogatsky, PhD, and Theresa Lu, MD, PhD.

Sustaining the Scientific Endeavor

Endowment funds raised through the Campaign provide a permanent source of support for scientific investigations.

The Campaign has helped to build existing endowments, such as the Philip D. Wilson, Jr., Orthopedic and Education Research Endowment, as well as create new endowments, including the Margaret R. Cadwell Endowment for Musculoskeletal Research and the John H. Foster Center for Clinical Outcome Research. Significant gifts from the late Charles H. Thieriot, who served on the HSS Board, as well as extraordinary planned gifts accelerated the growth of endowed funds. These included a generous bequest from the Estate of George D. Cornell and the far-reaching $9 million bequest from the Estate of Franchellie M. Cadwell. As the Campaign entered its final phase, the Hospital received an exceptional gift from The Starr Foundation to further enhance the research endowment, bringing the Foundation’s total support of the Campaign to an unprecedented $19 million.

HSS research began in 1954 with a generous endowment provided by a grateful patient, Helen Bicknell. Benefactors who have provided endowed gifts and generous support through the Campaign have built upon this tradition, creating a foundation for future scientific discoveries.