Dolly Parton's $1 Million Gift Helped Seed Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine Research at Vanderbilt
核心洞察
Dolly Parton made a $1 million donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in March 2020 to support research into COVID-19 (搜索) treatments, creating the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund.
The fund supported early-stage research that contributed to the COVID-19 (搜索) vaccine developed by Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
More than 250 million people globally received the Moderna COVID-19 (搜索) vaccine, and COVID vaccinations overall are estimated to have saved at least 14 million lives in the first year of rollout.
In March 2020, as COVID-19 (搜索) surged around the globe, Dolly Parton announced a $1 million donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center to support research into treatments for the new coronavirus. The university later confirmed that the money was used to create the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund, which supported early-stage research that led to the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The donation was made in honor of Parton's longtime friend, surgeon Naji N. Abumrad, MD, a Vanderbilt professor and chairman emeritus of the department of surgery. "My longtime friend Dr. Naji Abumrad, who's been involved in research at Vanderbilt for many years, informed me that they were making some exciting advancements towards research of the coronavirus for a cure," Parton wrote on social media in April 2020. "I am making a donation of $1 million to Vanderbilt towards that research and to encourage people that can afford it to make donations."
From Philanthropy to Vaccine Development
The Vanderbilt University Medical Center, based in Parton's home state of Tennessee, was working with pharmaceutical giant Moderna, which went on to develop one of the most widely used vaccinations. Parton later said she was surprised to learn about the connection, but was happy to also become an unlikely face of vaccine confidence among skeptics.
"It was a big shock," she told PEOPLE at the time. "Everybody was calling congratulating me, and I was saying, 'Well, for what?' And then of course my fans took it and ran with it: 'I'm getting the Dolly vaccine! I'm getting the Dolly juice!' I guess they thought if Dolly got it, it might be pretty safe."
Overall, more than 250 million people globally received the Moderna COVID-19 (搜索) vaccine, while COVID vaccinations as a whole are estimated to have saved at least 14 million lives in the first year of their rollout alone. Parton was quick to downplay her role, maintaining that her contribution was minimal. "I got more credit than I deserved," she added. "I was just trying to put my money where my heart is."
A Broader Legacy in Medical Research
A little over two years later, in June 2022, Parton made another $1 million donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center to support pediatric infectious diseases research. "I love all children," she told Vanderbilt at the time. "No child should ever have to suffer, and I'm willing to do my part to try and keep as many of them as I can as healthy and safe as possible."
The university said Parton had previously made a "transformational" contribution to support a pediatric cancer program at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, in honor of her niece, who was successfully treated for leukemia (搜索) at the hospital, and Abumrad.
Parton's generosity extended to other institutions as well. In March of this year, in honor of her support, East Tennessee Children's Hospital in Knoxville was renamed the Dolly Parton Children's Hospital. Matt Schaefer, the facility's president and CEO, called it "more than a name change." "With Dolly's support, we are strengthening our mission to deliver world-class pediatric care to families, ensuring every child who walks through our doors receives the treatment they deserve," Schaefer said in a statement.
A Life of Giving
Parton, the iconic country music superstar and actress renowned for her philanthropy, died Tuesday at the age of 80 years, her family announced. She died at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center after a "brief battle with cancer," her publicist said in a statement sent to media outlets.
"Dolly Parton's impact is immeasurable," Vanderbilt University wrote in a statement on X. "Her music brought generations together. Her commitment to literacy opened doors for millions of children. Her generosity supported lifesaving research at [the university]."
Parton also founded Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which gifts more than 3 million free books to children globally every month, according to the charity. The program, started in 1995 and inspired by her father Robert Lee Parton, who never learned to read or write, has now shipped more than 300 million books across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, and Australia.
Parton also had a long and well-documented history of supporting causes related to HIV/AIDS (搜索) awareness and LGBTQ+ rights. She co-produced the 1989 Oscar-winning documentary "Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt," about the AIDS Memorial Quilt. "Long before it was easy or popular, Dolly Parton told our community that we belonged, and she meant it," Kevin Jennings, CEO of Lambda Legal, said in a statement. "She championed children's literacy through her Imagination Library, lent her voice and resources to the fight against HIV and AIDS, and stood up, time and again, for the community she embraced as her own."