The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has announced a $16 million gift from Philip Van Horn Gerdine in support of precision medicine and the Wilmer Eye Institute.

Made in the name of Gerdine's late wife, Marjorie, the gift will be made available to the university as part of the Gerdines' estate and includes $10 million to establish the Philip and Marjorie Gerdine Precision Medicine Scholars Fund, which will support novel research by six to eight scholars in the area of precision medicine; $3 million to create the Philip and Marjorie Gerdine Professorship of Ophthalmology for the Cornea Division at the Wilmer Eye Institute; and $3 million to endow the Philip and Marjorie Gerdine Professorship of Ophthalmology for Age-Related Macular Degeneration Research at the Wilmer Eye Institute.

Philip Gerdine received corneal transplants at the Wilmer Eye Institute in the 1980s to treat a condition called Fuchs' dystrophy, and his wife later received care there for macular degeneration. Both Gerdines were trained clinical psychologists, and Marjorie Gerdine had an extensive career as a child psychologist and educator; she passed away in 2019.

"The revolutionary tools of our era will allow humans to reimagine discovery and practice in medicine," said Antony Rosen, vice dean for research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of Johns Hopkins inHealth. "Dr. Gerdine's magnificent gift places these tools in the hands of highly creative trainees, who will use them to shape medicine's future."

(Photo credit: Gettyimages/batke)