UW-Madison Receives $9.5 Million From Gates Foundation

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has announced a five-year, $9.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to identify virus mutations that would serve as early warnings of potential pandemic influenza viruses. The grant will enable an international team of scientists to look for mutations in viral proteins that allow avian influenza viruses to bind to human receptors or facilitate efficient replication in human cells. Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a virologist at the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, will be the principal investigator on the project.

Full text article by Tania Banak is available via the University of Wisconsin-Madison Press Release, 11/19/09.

Cargill charitable giving tops $58 million in FY2009

Minneapolis-based Cargill has announced grants of more than $58 million to organizations around the world working to promote nutrition, health, education, and environmental stewardship. In response to the global financial crisis, the company donated $5.5 million for emergency hunger relief in ten countries through organizations such as Feeding America, the Salvation Army, and the Global Foodbanking Network. In addition, the company, as part of a five-year, $10 million commitment, awarded $2 million to the humanitarian organization CARE, which works to alleviate poverty in the developing world. And to help foster science, technology, engineering and math learning in Minneapolis schools, the company invested more than $3 million in two programs. "We recognize our continued success depends on the growth and health of our communities and partners," said Cargill chairman and CEO Greg Page. "We are committed to investing in communities where we live and work to promote vibrant, stable communities and growth that improves living standards."

Full text press release available via Cargill, Inc., 10/28/09.

Senator Baucus Releases Health-Care Proposal for Hospitals

Sen. Max Baucus' bill, known on the hill as the “chairman’s mark” and planned to be reviewed by the finance committee next week, would require nonprofit hospitals “to conduct a community health needs assessment at least once every three years and adopt an implementation strategy to meet the community needs.”

Full-text post by Grant Williams is available via the Government and Politics Watch, 9/16/09.

PATH to use Hilton Humanitarian Prize for $25 million innovation fund

Seattle-based PATH announced today it has won the world's largest humanitarian award, the $1.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, for its work creating effective health technologies for the developing world.

Full-text post by Kristi Heim is available via The Business of Giving, 8.18.09.

Atlanta Selected as Site for National Health Museum

The National Health Museum, which has displayed its collection on
the Internet since it was founded in 1997 and at events it
sponsored, has selected Atlanta for its new home and plans to
build a 190,000-square-foot museum in the city, reports Cox News
Service.

The organization said it chose Atlanta because it is already
home to several major health institutions, including the American
Cancer Society, the Arthritis Foundation, and the Centers for
Disease Control, the news service reports.

Museum organizers plan to conduct a fund-raising drive to seek
money for the new facility.

Full-text article by Bob Keefe is available via the Atlanta Journal Constitution, 6.18.08.