Kabara Cancer Research Institute - Gundersen Health System

On a tour of Gundersen Lutheran this fall, Gov. Thompson (pictured above,
third from right)
Shaping the Future of Healthcare
through Philanthropy
In 2005, Tommy G. Thompson, former Governor of
Wisconsin, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human
Services, and current President of Logistics Health, Inc.,
joined the Board of Directors of Gundersen Lutheran
Medical Foundation. Having dedicated his professional life
to public service, Gov. Thompson is a passionate advocate
for the health and welfare of all Americans, particularly
the Gundersen Lutheran service region he calls home. His
familiarity with successful healthcare models and best
practices from around the country gives him a unique
perspective on the role of innovation in finding creative
solutions to the healthcare challenges of the future. On a
tour of Gundersen Lutheran this fall, Gov. Thompson shared
his views on the critical role of philanthropy in healthcare.
“Philanthropy is more important today than ever
before. All we have to do is look at the financial problems
of our federal and state governments to realize there will
not be as many taxpayer dollars available for healthcare
in the future. How is that void going to be filled? It’s
going to be filled by the great generosity of individual
benefactors like Jon and Betty Kabara. It’s going to be
filled by other people of the same abilities, who choose
to contribute to the Gundersen Lutherans of our world
so they may continue healing, teaching, and serving the
greater good. That, to me, is the definition of a compassionate
society.
“Gundersen Lutheran is a philanthropic role model
in and of itself, providing thousands of dollars of
uncompensated care to people who need it. The
Foundation does a tremendous amount of societal good
every single day through medical education and research,
and reaching out to help people who need it. If we want
a more perfect world, it is going to be the innovations
in science and healthcare that will lead the way. In that
sense, Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation is a
beacon of hope showing us the way to a better future.”
Major Gift Establishes
New Cancer Research
Institute at Gundersen
Lutheran
On the day of the news conference announcing the
creation of the Dr. Jon and Betty Kabara Cancer
Research Institute at Gundersen Lutheran, Jon
Kabara spoke of losing his grandfather to cancer when he
was only seven years old. “This sounds corny, but I had
a conversation with God and told him ‘when I grow up, I
hope I can find a cure.’ But I also said: If you can’t wait for
me to grow up, it’s okay if somebody else finds it.”
Dr. Kabara dedicated his entire adult life to science
and research. After graduating with his bachelor’s degree
in chemistry from Saint Mary’s University in Winona,
Minn., he went on to receive his master’s degree in organic
chemistry and doctorate degree in pharmacology at the
University of Miami, Miami, Fla., and the University of
Chicago respectively. He has been a professor at Michigan
State University for 20 years, and an investigator in
biochemistry for the past 50 years, all of it in lipid research.
Both he and his wife Betty have seen the terrible toll
cancer has taken in the lives of those they loved. For this
reason, they became passionately committed to sponsoring
research directed toward specific aspects of nutrition and
lipids in cancer biology in the hopes of uncovering new
pathways to its cause and cure. Having funded an earlier
research project for the Foundation under the direction of
Dr. Steve Callister, the Kabaras already had an enormous
respect for the work being done by the medical staff and
researchers at Gundersen Lutheran. In February, they made
a $1,000,000 gift to Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation
with the intent to create the Cancer Research Institute
that now bears their name.
“We were surprised to learn the Kabaras were making
this extraordinary gift because they are not from the
area and had not received their care here,” said Mark V.
Connelly, MD, FACS, chairman of Gundersen Lutheran
Medical Foundation. “It’s a testament to our organization
that they recognized the strong tradition of research at
Gundersen Lutheran. Their generous gift and their remarkable
commitment to finding a cure for cancer will take our
10 www.gundluth.org/foundation

Betty and Jon Kabara take the podium to announce the creation of the Kabara
Cancer Research Institute.
research efforts to a new level.”
The Kabaras look forward to the work of the Institute
getting underway with the arrival of renowned cancer
researcher Dr. Carl Simon Shelley (see inset.) After a
lifetime dedicated to finding a cure, Jon Kabara will be
more than happy to make good on his childhood promise.
As Betty Kabara says, “We’re at the point in our lives
where we feel time is running out, so we’ve got to get
somebody else to carry on.” By establishing the Cancer
Research Institute at Gundersen Lutheran, the Kabaras
are symbolically passing the torch and entrusting their
dream to a world-class medical center equally dedicated
to their cause.
The Kabaras
had not received
medical care at
Gundersen Lutheran prior to making their generous gift
to the Foundation. That changed in June of 2008, when
Dr. Kabara was treated for a serious heart condition that
threatened his life. Told by his regular cardiologists that
he had only six months to live, the Kabaras sought a
second opinion from Umang Patel, MD, and Julio Bird, MD,
at the Gundersen Lutheran Heart Institute. Dr. Kabara
now credits both of his physicians—and every caregiver
he has encountered at Gundersen Lutheran—with
giving him a second life. “It is such an incredible place,”
observes Betty Kabara. “The service, the care, the way
we were treated before, during and after Jon’s surgery…
we just couldn’t get over it. If we were younger, we
would move here for this hospital.” Jon Kabara is equally
grateful. “As patients, the greatest thing we received
One of the scientists who will
be conducting research in
the Dr. Jon and Betty Kabara
Cancer Research Institute is
Carl Simon Shelley, DPhil. Dr.
Shelley received his doctorate
at the University of Oxford, and
arrived at Gundersen Lutheran
Carl Simon Shelley, DPhil
in early October, after spending
more than 20 years as a researcher at Harvard Medical
School. He has served as a visiting scientist at the
University of Paris, France, and has participated in
numerous national and international collaborations.
William A. Agger, MD, Director of Research for
Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation, couldn’t be
more pleased that the hiring of the organization’s first
dedicated senior scientist in the area of cancer research
coincided so closely with the Kabara’s initiative to
fund a Cancer Research Institute. “It’s just perfect
timing,” says Dr. Agger. Up to this point, the majority
of research conducted at Gundersen Lutheran has
been clinically based—meaning a doctor or nurse
chooses to investigate the cause of something they
see in their practice by looking at medical records or
conducting tests. The research Dr. Shelley conducts
is basic research, which is research at the molecular
or microbiology level. “Our program has grown to the
point where this is possible,” notes Dr. Agger, “thanks
to the foresight of those who came before us.”
The Kabaras (pictured above with Philip Shumacher, CFRE, left, and Mark
Connelly, MD, right)
here was hope. As donors, it reaffirmed that we were
doing the right thing. We’re putting our money in the
right place.”
Pathfinders Year-End 2008 11