Endowed Professorship at the University of Minnesota

A Powerful investment in the future

As a way to continue Danna’s legacy, a professorship fund is being established in her name. It will assist the University in recruiting, supporting, and retaining outstanding faculty members who have a focus in colorectal cancer research and continue her goal of developing new treatment options to improve the quality of life and survivorship for people with advanced stage colon cancer.

Endowed professorships are vital tools for advancing medicine at the University of Minnesota. Endowments retain their value over time through careful investment, generating annual income to support the holder’s research, clinical, or educational innovations. They enable professorship holders to train the next generation of health care leaders, and they make it possible for leading physician-scientists to explore the most promising avenues of medical discovery.

The dollars made available each year by the endowment give the professorship holder tremendous flexibility to:

*Start promising new studies and explore novel ideas

*Gather preliminary data that will attract greater support from public and private sources such as the National Institutes of Health

*Respond quickly to unforeseen advances in his or her field

*Maintain momentum on long-term studies that are not supported by public dollars

*Bridge funding gaps and hold together Minnesota’s best research teams through lean periods in public funding

Endowed professorships are among the most important investments made in the academic world because they continue to give—forever. A professorship holder’s work is identified with his or her name and that of the professorship—named by or for the donor—permanently recognizing the donor’s generosity and passionate commitment to a cause. Endowed professorships enable the University of Minnesota to create a margin of excellence that sets the institution apart, improving the quality of life for the people of Minnesota, the nation, and the world.