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| Vol. 25, No. 3 |
| February 15, 2003 |
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Music Mogul Makes Multiple Sclerosis Donation By MEREDITH RAINE-MIDDLETON The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Country music star Clay Walker donated $48,000 from one of his Houston concerts for the purchase of a high-tech, high-strength magnetic resonance imaging magnet that will advance multiple sclerosis patient care and research at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. Walker, who has multiple sclerosis, said, “It’s exciting to see the cutting-edge multiple sclerosis research that is being done at the university. As someone living with MS, I want to do everything I can to help researchers like my doctor, Jerry Wolinsky, continue to work toward a cure. I hope the money we raised for the university to acquire the new MRI machine will help researchers take that next step.” The equipment, called the 3 Tesla MRI, will enable physicians to detect brain abnormalities in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s. L. Maximilian Buja, M.D., UT-Houston Medical School dean, thanked Walker for his time and commitment to the cause. “This is a major contribution to the clinical neurosciences program,” Buja said. Wolinsky, the lead multiple sclerosis researcher at UT-Houston and holder of the Bartels Family Professorship in Neurology, said the purchase of the equipment will be superb for clinical trials and treatment of patients with neurological diseases. “This is a great step forward, and I hope we will have many more,” he said. Juanita Romans, Memorial Hermann Hospital chief executive officer, said Walker’s contribution will add a new dimension of care for multiple sclerosis patients. The new MRI, which will be housed at Memorial Hermann, can investigate the biochemistry of the brain and provide direct assessment of damage to the nerve cells. It also will be used for developmental research and novel imaging applications that cannot be explored with existing imagers at UT-Houston and the hospital. Multiple sclerosis is an incurable, autoimmune disease that turns the body’s own defense system into a powerful weapon aimed at destroying the central nervous system. Most patients experience muscle weakness in their hands, feet or legs and often lose their coordination and balance. An estimated 350,000 patients in the United States are diagnosed each year with MS.
©2006 Texas Medical Center E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/02_15_03/page_10.html |