NASHVILLE, Tenn. ñ Reaching out to children with autism and their
families is what the Dan Marino Foundation is all about. The foundation
recently expanded its impact through a gift of $100,000 to the
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development. The gift,
the first major donation the foundation has made outside of its home
base of South Florida, will create Dan Marino Foundation Fellowships
and Dan Marino Foundation Discovery Grants and will support the
center‘s outreach programs.
Dan Marino Foundation fellows will be pre- or post-doctoral trainees
who are mentored by a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigator. The
fellowships will encourage top researchers to continue on a career path
to investigate autism and related neurodevelopmental disabilities.
Dan Marino Foundation Discovery Grants will provide Vanderbilt
Kennedy Center investigators with seed funding for novel and innovative
research ideas.
“The Dan Marino Foundation is proud to make this gift because of the
positive impact it will have through research that directly or
indirectly improves the lives of children and families in the
special-needs community,” Mary Partin, Dan Marino Foundation chief
executive officer, said. “The cutting-edge research programs and
various outreach efforts taking place at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
are some of the finest in the country.”
“By supporting young investigators and by creating a research fund
to pursue new ideas, the Dan Marino Foundation is investing in the
future,” Kennedy Center Director Pat Levitt said. The Vanderbilt
Kennedy Center is a national center for research on development and
developmental disabilities.
The mission of the Dan Marino Foundation is to impact autism by
supporting integrated treatment programs, outreach services and disease
research for children with chronic illnesses and developmental
disabilities.
“Rooted in our family‘s values, Claire and I founded the Dan Marino
Foundation in 1992,” wrote Dan Marino. “The quest to find medical care
for our son greatly impacted the mission of the Dan Marino Foundation.
Claire and I are thankful for the blessings that we have received in
life and believe it is important to give back to others.”
For more information on the Dan Marino Foundation, see http://www.danmarinofoundation.org. For more information on the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, visit http://kc.vanderbilt.edu.
For more Vanderbilt news, visit http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news.
Media contact: Melanie Catania, (615) 322-NEWS
Melanie.catania@vanderbilt.edu
Jan Rosemergy, (615) 322-8238
Jan.rosemergy@vanderbilt.edu
