The Children's Foundation of Memphis has awarded a $4 million gift to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in support of medical research and infrastructure, the Memphis Business Journal reports.

The grant will support infrastructure enhancements within the hospital's Children's Foundation Research Institute, a partnership between the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Le Bonheur, and the Children's Foundation of Memphis. Half the gift, $2 million, is earmarked for a dollar-for-dollar matching challenge.

Established in 1993, CFRI has worked to support research, especially translational research, and initiatives designed to encourage better health among children in the greater Memphis area. "There's more focus from the National Institutes of Health on translational research than there was before, and for your researchers to be more effective or competitive, you need to build your core resources," said Children's Foundation of Memphis president Holley McGehee.

"You have to build up the infrastructure with new labs, cutting-edge equipment, and personnel to attract the top physician-scientists and bench scientists," said Jon McCullers, pediatrician-in-chief at Le Bonheur, who also is chair of the UTHSC Department of Pediatrics and a full faculty member at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. "Research in this context is a bit of a new paradigm. You're not just doing it to publish papers. You need research scientists working at the bedside and then reporting and translating that into a community benefit."