Mitchell commits $800,000 to UTMB’s Sealy Center on Aging
GALVESTON — Famed wildcatter and The Woodlands developer George P. Mitchell has pledged $800,000 to the Sealy Center on Aging at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston to support research dedicated to enhancing the health and quality of life of the elderly.
Mitchell’s commitment, which will be matched by university resources and other philanthropy, will augment the growth of two Sealy Center on Aging programs: The World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization Collaborating Center on Aging and Health and the Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center.
The WHO/PAHO center coordinates research at UTMB that examines the health care implications of aging populations, particularly among Hispanics. The center, the first of its kind in the United States when it was established in 2005 and one of only eight in the world, provides technical expertise to researchers at PAHO-member countries to improve the health of older people living in the Americas.
Part of Mitchell’s pledged support will establish the Sheridan Lorenz Distinguished Professorship in Aging and Health. The endowed faculty position was established in honor of Sheridan Lorenz, one of Mitchell’s daughters.
Rebeca Wong, director of the WHO/PAHO center, has been nominated to hold the Lorenz Distinguished Professorship. Wong brings much expertise on aging with her background as an internationally recognized investigator of Hispanic health issues. The Lorenz Distinguished Professorship would help Wong further her studies that include old-age consequences of lifestyle risk factors and the mortality and health consequences of Mexico-U.S. migration.
Mitchell’s support will also enable Wong to expand UTMB’s affiliations throughout the hemisphere, making it possible for more geriatricians from Latin America to visit the university to learn new approaches to geriatric medicine. Faculty at UTMB, in turn, will work with their counterparts in Latin American countries on clinical programs and research.
The other program benefiting from Mitchell’s generosity, the Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, conducts research on various topics of interest to the elderly. One of only 10 such centers in the United States, UTMB’s Pepper Center particularly examines how exercise, hormones, drugs and nutrition affect strength and muscle mass. The center’s researchers suggest that losing muscle may not be an inevitable consequence of aging. Mitchell’s support will enable UTMB to hire another scientist to further investigate frailty and muscle mass issues among senior citizens.
Dr. James S. Goodwin, director of the Sealy Center on Aging, said the Mitchell commitment will help UTMB advance research that could greatly improve the quality of life for the elderly, a rapidly growing segment of the population.
“I’m grateful to Mr. Mitchell for recognizing our need to increase our investigations of senior citizens’ physiology,” said Goodwin, who holds the George and Cynthia Mitchell Distinguished Chair in Geriatric Medicine. “The results of our studies may not yield a ‘fountain of youth’ but could lead to significantly improved mobility and overall well-being among the elderly.”
With continuing medical advances, people are living longer and requiring more age-related health care. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce indicate that, between 2000 and 2010, more than 500,000 people over 65 will be added to the population of Texas. The number of people 85 and older living in the United States is predicted to increase to 19 million in 2030 compared to 12 million in 2000.
Dr. David L. Callender, UTMB president, thanked Mitchell for his continued support of aging-related research at the university.
“Mr. Mitchell’s endorsement of our work to improve the lives of senior citizens is crucial to the nation’s growing elderly population,” Callender said. “His generosity not only builds upon his legacy of giving here at UTMB but also further elevates the Sealy Center on Aging’s distinction as one of the nation’s premiere geriatric research programs.”
Cynthia and George Mitchell have an extensive history of supporting longevity research at the university. In 1984 the Mitchells hosted a gala to celebrate the opening of the San Luis Hotel in Galveston and dedicated the $250,000 proceeds to help establish a geriatrics program that would later become the Sealy Center on Aging.
Over the years the Mitchells continued to champion UTMB programs benefiting the elderly, which included significant contributions to create the Mitchell Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Mitchell Distinguished Chair in Geriatric Medicine. They established the Mitchell Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research and its Drug Discovery and Development Program, now part of the Mitchell Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, and the George and Cynthia Mitchell Research Program in Alzheimer’s Disease. The Mitchells also have contributed to gastrointestinal research and the Ruby Christine Morgan Fund for Type I Diabetes Research at UTMB.
George Mitchell, who was born in Galveston, built Mitchell Energy into one of the nation’s largest independent gas and oil producers. In the 1960s, he created and developed The Woodlands, a 27,000-acre community located 30 miles north of downtown Houston and recognized as one of the premier master-planned communities in the United States. In addition to founding and developing the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Performing Arts in The Woodlands, the Mitchells are credited with spawning the resurgence of tourism and preservation on Galveston Island through their restoration of the city’s historic Strand district and by reviving Mardi Gras celebrations on the island.