Virginia Commonwealth University has announced a gift of $104 million from R. Todd Stravitz and his family’s Barbara Brunckhorst Foundation in support of liver research. 

The largest gift in VCU’s history—and the largest publicly shared gift to support liver research in U.S. history—will enable the university to accelerate implementation of several priorities of the Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health, which was publicly launched in December, including investment in microbiome research, gene-editing approaches, imaging tools, digital technologies and data analytics; investment in endowed positions and new degree programs at the graduate, postgraduate, and postdoctoral level; and inclusion of other VCU disciplines in the interdisciplinary approach, such as engineering, nursing, pharmacy, social work, arts and business. 

Stravitz, a physician-philanthropist in the Department of Internal Medicine at VCU School of Medicine, dedicated his career as a liver clinician and researcher to VCU. Before retiring in 2020, he served as medical director of liver transplantation at VCU Health’s Hume-Lee Transplant Center for a decade.

“The institute’s research will have an enormous impact on our lives, changing medicine and our understanding of the role the liver plays in human health,” said Michael Rao, president of VCU and VCU Health. “This gift is extraordinarily generous, and it is most certainly generative. It allows us to bring together top teams to deliver clinical care, to ask important questions, develop new tools to explore what causes liver disease and how we stop it, prevent it and even reverse it. Most importantly, it will immediately make a difference in the lives of thousands of people with liver disease. Ultimately, this will positively impact millions.” 

(Photo Credit: Thomas Kojcsich, VCU Marketing)