FN&C Now

Volume 5, Number 38 – September 28, 2004 IN THIS ISSUE BREAKING NEWS: 2004 MacArthur fellows include Katherine Gottlieb, David Green, John Kamm and Julie Theriot NEWS COVERAGE: Lasker awards announced; new funding for interdisciplinary biomedical programs; Rasmuson sabbatical program for health and human service leaders NOW ONLINE: New portal links donors to charities across New York state ON THE MOVE: Michael E. Cryor, Michael D. Hankin and Donn Weinberg (Baltimore); John S. Bracken (MacArthur) BREAKING NEWS NEW FELLOWS: The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named 23 MacArthur Fellows for 2004, with each receiving $500,000 in "no strings attached" support during the next five years. Among the new fellows are: Katherine Gottlieb, president and CEO, Southcentral Foundation; David Green, founder of Project Impact; John Kamm, founder, chairman and executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation; and Julie Theriot, a former Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellow. Fellows are selected for their originality, creativity and potential for additional groundbreaking work. See the complete list: http://www.macfound.org/programs/fel/announce.htm . Find out more about the fellowships, the foundation's first major initiative, by reading F. Champion Ward's "The Birth of the MacArthur Fellows Program" in Foundation News & Commentary: http://www.foundationnews.org/CME/article.cfm?ID=1540 . NEWS COVERAGE LASKER AWARDS: The Lasker Foundation announced its 2004 Albert Lasker Medical Research Awards. Pierre Chambon, Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology; Ronald M. Evans, Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and Elwood V. Jensen, University of Chicago, will share the 2004 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research. The 2004 Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research will go to the late Charles Kelman, who was affiliated with the New York Medical College. The 2004 Lasker Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science will honor Matthew Meselson of Harvard University. Often called "America's Nobels," Lasker Awards have been given to 68 scientists who subsequently went on to receive the Nobel Prize, including 15 in the last 10 years. The awards will be presented on October 1 in New York City. Read more: http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/thisyear.html . GETTING INTERDISCIPLINARY: Biomedical science is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, requiring that life scientists also be versed in the physical sciences. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) are joining forces to provide both start-up funds and sustaining support for graduate training programs that integrate the biomedical sciences with the physical sciences and engineering. Building on work begun by the Whitaker and National Science foundations and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, HHMI will award up to ten three-year grants of as much as $1 million each to support the development and early phases of the interdisciplinary programs. NIBIB—a new institute of the National Institutes of Health—will provide five additional years of support to HHMI grantees through peer-reviewed institutional training grants. Read more: http://www.hhmi.org/news/092704.html . NONPROFIT SABBATICALS: The Rasmuson Foundation began a sabbatical program to offer executive directors and CEOs of health and human services agencies in Alaska time away from the office for professional growth and personal renewal. The foundation will award three or four grants in 2005, of up to $30,000 each. The grants will be used to cover the executive's salary and expenses during the sabbatical, which may run from two to six continuous months. The applications deadline for 2005 sabbaticals is November 15, 2004. Read more: http://www.rasmuson.org/index.php?switch=view_pressrelease&iReleaseID=41 . NOW ONLINE NEW PORTAL: A website dedicated to increasing the flow of philanthropic dollars to charities in New York state has been launched in cooperation with GuideStar. NYCharities.org is a free Web portal where donors can find information on more than 60,000 charities in the state, contribute to those organizations online and discover volunteer opportunities. Find out more: http://www.nycharities.org . ON THE MOVE The Baltimore Community Foundation elected MICHAEL E. CRYOR, MICHAEL D. HANKIN and DONN WEINBERG to its board of trustees. JOHN S. BRACKEN was named program officer in the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's General Program. Read more: http://www.macfound.org/announce/press_releases/9_17_2004_1.htm . SUBSCRIBE FN&C Now is published by the Council on Foundations to keep you in the loop by sharing news between bimonthly editions of Foundation News & Commentary magazine (FN&C Now Web archive: http://www.foundationnews.org/now/index.htm ). Please feel free to forward this message to your friends and colleagues who might enjoy it. To subscribe (it's free) to FN&C Now, send an e-mail to fncnow@cof.org . Questions or comments about FN&C Now? Contact Paula J. Kelly at 202/467-0261. To contribute a news item for consideration, please e-mail fncnow@cof.org . To unsubscribe, send a blank e-mail to leave-fncnow-4832R@int1.cof.org . To subscribe to Foundation News & Commentary, an award-winning magazine, please send an e-mail to fncsubs@cof.org , or visit our website at http://www.icnfull.com/cgi-bin/cobolscript.exe?cof/cofmain.cbl . Council on Foundations 1828 L Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 202/466-6512 webmaster@cof.org last update: 9.29.04