$1 million gift creates College of Pharmacy's first graduate endowment
The UF College of Pharmacy has received a welcome dose of support to create its first-ever graduate endowment.
The A.J. Spiegel Foundation has pledged $1 million to create the Dr. Allen J. Spiegel Graduate Endowment in Pharmaceutical Research. The fund will support graduate students in the Department of Pharmaceutics' Ph.D. program.
Allen J. Spiegel, a UF alumnus and member of the College of Pharmacy's National Advisory Board since 2000, is a trustee of the foundation. He said he decided the endowment was the best way to help fund the college's graduate programs after discussions with College of Pharmacy Dean William H. Riffee and Executive Associate Dean Bill Millard.
"We need a good graduate research program," Spiegel said, "and in order to have one, we need more support. Hopefully this will provide the support necessary to aid those pursuing a Ph.D. in pharmacy."
Spiegel, who previously donated $100,000 to the college to create the A.J. Spiegel Graduate Fellowship, earned his Ph.D. in pharmacy from UF in 1957 and retired as senior director of international patents operations from Pfizer Inc., where he worked for 43 years.
Millard said the college needs this type of private funding for translational research, where scientists first study disease at a molecular or cellular level and later translate their findings to clinical applications for patients. Also benefiting from the gift is research in pharmacogenetics, the study of how genes influence drug response.
"Dr. Spiegel's endowment will now allow the College of Pharmacy to expand its graduate training program in both translational and pharmacogenetics research by providing additional graduate student lines and support in each of these research areas," Millard said. "We are indebted to Dr. Spiegel's generosity and support of our college.!
The gift is eligible for matching funds from the State of Florida Major Gift Trust Fund and will count toward the Faculty Challenge Initiative. The initiative, which was announced last year by UF President Bernie Machen, aims to raise $150 million to meet the demands of educating Florida's growing population and make UF one of the nation's premier research universities.