Endowments

Endowments have built and sustained the Arizona Arthritis Center and endowments will secure our future. They provide a firm financial foundation that impacts the Center long after the gift is made. Endowments serve as meaningful ways for individuals, corporations or foundations to leave a lasting legacy.

Through a $1 million gift, the Center can establish an endowed chair, which focuses on research of your choice. An endowed chair is established with a single gift or a combination of gifts totaling $1 million. Endowed chairs provide prestige and visibility to the positions they support and they help to attract and retain top physicians and researchers.

The Center is also currently seeking contributions for the following established endowments:

Pediatric Rheumatology Endowment
Please consider making an enduring difference in the lives of children in Tucson and Arizona by providing a gift to support a long-lasting and comprehensive pediatric rheumatology program. One of the Arizona Arthritis Center’s overriding goals for the near future is to establish this program.

There is only one pediatric rheumatologist practicing in the state and that physician practices in the Phoenix area. Yet, there are thousands of children in Arizona with arthritis and the impact of this disease on their lives is enormous. This is a depressing fact, especially in light of the tremendous advances being made in the treatment of all forms of arthritis, including those that affect children.

Many people are under the assumption that arthritis is an “older person’s” disease. However, it is estimated that 4,000 children in Arizona have arthritis. The AAC sees patients with serious disabilities as young as one-year-old. Many of these children require joint replacement in their 20s due to the ravages of arthritis.

It is vital that these children see a pediatric rheumatologist who can treat the disease early in its onset before excessive pain, joint erosion and growth problems develop. General practice physicians do not have the latest information to treat these children with breakthrough medications and adult rheumatologists do not have the specialized knowledge needed to treat children with this disease. Pediatric rheumatologists have expertise regarding the social, emotional and physical issues of children.

A program is needed to improve the quality of life for those affected by childhood arthritis and related diseases. Not only do these children need access to care by a pediatric rheumatologist, but also there is a need for more research into the causes of juvenile arthritis so that effective therapies, preventative measures and ultimately a cure can be found.

In the late 1980s, the AAC was one of the first to identify a key hormone that causes much arthritis-related destruction. This led to the development of “biologic modifying therapy,” which not only stops destruction, but also reverses it. These therapies are now being approved for children. If we can only get to children with arthritis in Arizona, we can truly save them a lifetime of suffering.

Currently, the Center has raised more than $1 million toward the Charles W. and Sophie T. McKenzie Endowed Chair for Pediatric Rheumatology, thanks to the McKenzie’s and to Caryl Taylor who provided $25,000 to initiate the Endowment. These funds will support the work of a clinical pediatric rheumatologist. Reaching the fund’s goal of $5 million will allow the Center to also develop a research component to the program and extend the program into the Phoenix area.

Gifts in excess of $1 million will become named endowments in honor of the generous and caring benefactors. All gifts, at any level of support, will last into perpetuity because the funds are secured as principal and only a portion of the income will be used.

Please make checks out to AAC/UAF
(Note on check Pediatric Rheumatology Endowment)

Mail payments to:
Arizona Arthritis Center
P.O. Box 245093
Tucson, AZ 85724-5093

Susan & Saul Tobin Endowment for Education and Research

More than half the funds already have been raised for this $1 million endowment, announced at the Arthritis Center's 10th Anniversary Celebration in October 2004.

The endowment honors long-time Arizona Arthritis Center supporters Susan and the late Saul Tobin and will help the Center build a world-class research and education program in rheumatology.

Susan and Saul Tobin

Through the years, the Tobins have played a crucial role in the development of the Arizona Arthritis Center. Their leadership and dedication had a far-reaching impact on the lives of those with arthritis

Saul Tobin helped to raise millions of dollars for the Center. As chair emeritus, he worked as a mentor and adviser, helping guide the Center to its many accomplishments.

Mel and Enid Zuckerman, founders of Canyon Ranch, initiated the endowment through a $100,000 pledge. Tucson developer Don Diamond and his wife, Joan, and Tucson business leader Jim Click and his wife, Vicki, followed with contributions of $100,000 each. The Tobins pledged $150,000 to the fund. Guests who attended the event contributed more than $50,000.

Sadly, Saul passed away in February 2005 after a courageous battle with melanoma. Almost $5,000 has been additionally contributed through memorial contributions. In 2006, the Zuckerman Family Foundation pledged $100,000 over the next four years. With more than $600,000 already raised, the $1 million endowment is more than halfway to its goal.

This important endowment acknowledges Susan and Saul for their extraordinary contributions that have made the Center what it is today. We look forward to highlighting our supporters and celebrating the realization of this new dream when the endowment is established.

Please make checks out to AAC/UAF
(Note on check Tobin Endowment)

Mail payments to:
Arizona Arthritis Center
P.O. Box 245093
Tucson, AZ 85724-5093