$10 million philanthropic gift aims to integrate and evaluate the impact of genomics to advance health

EVANSTON, Ill., June 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Endeavor Health℠, Illinois' third-largest health system, today announced the formation of the Davis Family Center for Preventive Genomics, made possible by a $10 million donation from William (Bill) and Karen Davis of Lake Forest, Ill., one of the largest philanthropic gifts ever received by the health system.
The virtual Center of Excellence will focus on establishing personalized medicine and genomics testing at designated Endeavor Health primary care clinical locations to assist patients, their families and caregivers in making better-informed decisions about early diagnosis, prevention strategies and personalized treatment options.

"We are deeply grateful for this extraordinary gift from Bill and Karen Davis that will enable us to elevate patient care and pursue new discoveries," said J.P. Gallagher, Endeavor Health President and Chief Executive Officer. "Their generosity is both monumental in its magnitude and transformative in its impact on the future of healthcare."

The Davis Family Center for Preventive Genomics was named in recognition of the Davis' support for the study of genomics and personalized medicine. A longtime benefactor who served as a health system Board Chair and Life Director, Bill Davis knows the importance of personalized medicine to help families understand their care options. Several years ago, he lost a close family member to cancer, which was untreatable at the time due to a rare gene mutation. Since then, with advancements in genomic medicine, new treatments are being developed to counteract that mutation.

"Unfortunately for most patients, genomics isn't incorporated into their care plan," said Peter Hulick, MD, the Janardan D. Khandekar, MD, Chair of Personalized Medicine and the Director of the Mark R. Neaman Center for Personalized Medicine. "Endeavor Health has been an industry leader in providing genomics-guided care to better identify health risks and deliver targeted prevention and treatments. This transformational gift will enable us to build on early successes in an exponential way to deliver personalized medicine to our patients and their families."

Endeavor Health is home to one of the nation's largest primary care embedded clinical genomics programs, as well as The Mark R. Neaman Center for Personalized Medicine, which provides genomics-based tests to assist in diagnosis and treatment options for individualized patient care approaches. The Davis Family Center for Preventive Genomics will expand this commitment to personalized medicine by providing patients with more proactive information about their genomics to better inform prevention and screening care plans.

Learn more about personalized medicine at Endeavor Health.

About Endeavor Health
Endeavor Health℠ is a Chicagoland-based integrated health system driven by the mission to help everyone in their communities be their best. Illinois' third-largest health system and third-largest medical group serves an area of more than 4.2 million residents across seven northeast Illinois counties. More than 27,000 team members and more than 7,100 physician and advance practice provider partners deliver seamless access to personalized, pioneering, world-class patient care across more than 300 ambulatory locations and nine hospitals, including eight Magnet-recognized acute care hospitals – Edward (Naperville), Elmhurst, Evanston, Glenbrook (Glenview), Highland Park, Northwest Community (Arlington Heights), Skokie and Swedish (Chicago) and Linden Oak Behavioral Health Hospital (Naperville). For more information, visit www.endeavorhealth.org.

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SOURCE Endeavor Health