 
February 4, 2009
Mass. Man Donates $100M to AIDS Vaccine Research
A Massachusetts technology entrepreneur has gifted $100 million to create an AIDS research center in the hopes of encouraging collaboration among various specialists and reinvigorating the search for a vaccine that can slow the further spread of HIV/AIDS, The Boston Globe reports.
According to the article, Phillip Terrence Ragon, founder and sole owner of InterSystems—a Cambridge company that provides database software to hospitals and institutions—decided after a recent eye-opening trip to AIDS-ravaged South Africa to donate $10 million a year over the next decade to research powerhouses such as Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University.
The Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Institute, named for Ragon and his wife, comes at a time when, due to the recession and the recent failure of Merck & Co. vaccine trial, many research institutions are seeing fewer and fewer donations.
“This is exactly what the field needs,” said Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the federal agency leading the vaccine search. “There will be colleagues from MIT involved who think about these things from a very different perspective.”
Search: Massachusetts, Phillip Terrence Ragon, vaccine, Merck, South Africa, Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Anthony Fauci
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comments 1 - 3 (of 3 total)
Peter Hayes, Cape Town, 2009-02-05 11:05:48
Wow! What a hero. THANK YOU Philip, for the generosity and vision.
Susan, Boston, MA, 2009-02-05 08:52:42
I saw this story on the news here last night. I want to thank Phillip and Susan Ragon very, very much - from the bottom of my heart - for doing this. I've lived with HIV for 15 years and it's still difficult. To donate to try and save people from dealing with a diagnosis like this is enormously generous.
THANK YOU!
Marla (LaLa), Urbana, 2009-02-05 02:01:25
Well, it's awesome to see a citizen step in where the government obviously has not had resources to dedicate. Thank you to the Foundation, may its endeavors be successful! --mjf
comments 1 - 3 (of 3 total)
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