Thrive Global: The Power of Philanthropy

ThriveGlobal.com, an online wellness community and news site, recently published a column by Debra Whelan Johnson, managing director at Allied Financial Advisors and a Cedars-Sinai supporter. In the column, Whelan Johnson details the power of philanthropic giving to organizations, specifically The Brain Trust at Cedars-Sinai.

“Of all the philanthropic organizations I’ve encountered, few have left as much of an impact as The Brain Trust at Cedars-Sinai, a non-profit hospital in LA,” Whelan Johnson wrote.

As Whelan Johnson writes, The Brain Trust at Cedars-Sinai was formed in support of Keith Black, MD, a neurosurgeon and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai. Black, a foremost expert in the field, has helped numerous brain cancer patients live years longer than expected. 

Whelan Johnson detailed how a group of women friends were impressed and touched by the way Black was helping patients with brain cancer and other diseases, so they began raising money to help Black's work. The group eventually named themselves the Brain Trust. Members include Hollywood insiders Pauletta Washington and Keisha Nash-Whitaker. 

The Brain Trust raised $10 million for Dr. Black’s work at the medical center’s Maxine Dunitz Neurological Institute, which Black himself opened when he first joined Cedars-Sinai in 1997.

Contributions to The Brain Trust “allow us to do the high-risk, high-return type of work that is yet unproven, so it’s not the kind of work where we can go to the granting agencies,” Black told Whelan Johnson.

The Brain Trust’s funds have helped fund research for brain cancer vaccines, an Alzheimer’s vaccine, nanodrugs to enhance chemotherapy and other projects. 

Click here to read the complete story on ThriveGlobal.com.

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai blog: The Science of Kindness