Mindful that private philanthropy is critical to advancing the field of biomedical research, Jerry and Darlene Jordan recently made a major gift to endow a professorship in stem cell research at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
The initial incumbent of the Gerald and Darlene Jordan Professorship in Medicine is HSCI Scientific Co-Director David T. Scadden, MD, a renowned MGH physician-scientist who directs the MGH Center for Regenerative Medicine and is chief of the MGH Cancer Center’s Hematologic Malignancies Program. Scadden’s laboratory discovered molecular switches that regulate stem cell proliferation and defined the specialized environment in bone marrow that governs their fate.
Among those who attended a celebration at Harvard Medical School (HMS) to announce the professorship and honor Scadden were Gerald (Jerry) and Darlene Jordan and members of their family, MGH President Peter L. Slavin, MD, and MGH Chief of Medicine Dennis Ausiello, MD.
Speaking at the event, which was hosted by HMS Dean Joseph B. Martin, MD, PhD, Jerry Jordan noted Scadden’s many achievements and expressed his family’s conviction that their gift will accelerate research that has the potential to positively impact the lives of many people in the future.