The University of South Florida in Tampa has announced a $5 million gift to the USF Foundation from Timothy Ubben in support of research on pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that causes lung scarring.

The gift will create the Ubben Family Center for Pulmonary Fibrosis, to be housed in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. The gift will be used to expand pulmonary fibrosis research and establish an endowed chair, the Timothy Ubben Chair in Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Ubben awarded $1 million to USF in February to fund the Ubben Family Pulmonary Research Laboratory, which is led by Jose D. Herazo-Maya, associate chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine and director of the Ubben Program for Pulmonary Fibrosis Research in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

“Pulmonary fibrosis doesn’t get popular support or much research funding,” said Ubben, founder of Lincoln Capital Management, a Chicago-based investment firm. “I probably won’t be around to benefit from the results of Dr. Herazo’s research, but hopefully other pulmonary fibrosis patients will. I want him to find the cure, and I want him to do it at USF Health.”

(Photo credit: Gettyimages / Vladimir Vladimirov)