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Gift Honors Remarkable Man and Fuels Stem Cell Science
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Frances and John Bowes
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San Francisco entrepreneur John Bowes possessed many admirable qualities. He was thoughtful, genuine, empathetic, modest, and smart.
Now, in a fitting tribute to John's memory, his wife Frances has donated $1 million to the John G. Bowes/Stem Cell Research Fund at the UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine. Established by John's family and friends after he died in 2005, the fund will support efforts to recruit and foster brilliant young stem cell scientists.
"John believed that stem cell research was the future of medicine," says Frances. "We were impressed by its vast potential to prevent and cure so many different diseases, and we wanted to help speed discoveries in the field."
The Bowes were early advocates of stem cell research. The field first captured their attention in 2002 when two family members developed conditions that stem cell therapies may someday cure. In 2003 they donated $500,000 to support UCSF researcher Arturo Alvarez-Buylla, PhD, who studies how neural stem cells may be used in treatments for neurological diseases. Frances also served as volunteer Stem Cell Program Campaign Chair during the Campaign for UCSF.
With an energy and creativity that John—who successfully grew and sold several different companies—might admire, the research program at UCSF has coalesced into one of the premier stem cell institutes in the United States. Current investigations could lead to stem-cell based therapies for heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, childhood epilepsy, spinal cord injury, and myriad other conditions.
"The gift from Frances Bowes will help us to continue attracting the most gifted young scientists," says Arnold Kriegstein, MD, PhD, director of the UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine. "We are deeply grateful to the Bowes family for their strong commitment to our work."
"This donation honors John's life and his hope for the lives of young people," says Frances. "I know that stem cell research at UCSF will benefit not only our children, but our grandchildren and countless others in the future."
For more information on the John G. Bowes/Stem Cell Research Fund at UCSF, contact Linda Buck at 415/476-3953 or lbuck@support.ucsf.edu.
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