ABOUT RWMRF.org
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The Ralph Wilson Medical Research Foundation was established in 1999 by Ralph C. Wilson, Jr., and is dedicated to supporting innovative, high risk/high impact biomedical research. The Foundation has contributed over $8,000,000 to the effort since its inception and provides grant funding exclusively to five partner institutions: The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, The Mayo Clinic, The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's “Miami Project to Cure Paralysis,” The Roswell Park Cancer Institute, and Wayne State University.
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The Ralph Wilson Medical Research Foundation´s Grant Program is designed to foster novel and innovative research in the areas of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, neurosciences and musculoskeletal disorders. The principal focus of such prospects should be basic research calculated to advance new ideas leading to new or improved drugs, therapies, treatments, devices etc... The Program is also intended to encourage expansive thinking resulting in research proposals which by their nature may be difficult to fund in traditional ways due to the high risk nature of the proposed research. |
 "I have always thought that, when possible, everyone in life should try to make a contribution to benefit others, and I am hoping our medical foundation can achieve that goal now and in the future,” says Wilson.
THE FOUNDER
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. moved to Detroit with his family when he was a youngster. He graduated from the University of Virginia and later attended law
school at the University of Michigan, before enlisting in the Navy during World War II. He earned his commission within a year and served aboard minesweepers in both the
Atlantic and Pacific theaters and earned the Commendation Medal.
After the war, Wilson joined his father's insurance business. Through his career, Wilson has owned companies in the following industries: professional sports; trucking;
construction; television; insurance; energy; and manufacturing.
Today, Ralph C. Wilson Jr. is most widely known as the owner of the Buffalo Bills NFL franchise. He created the team in
1959 when he, along with seven others, established the American Football League. He is the only original American Football
League owner who has kept his team in its originating city. He has received numerous awards recognizing the impact he has
made on the game of football including his role in the AFL-NFL merger and his dedication to the NFL having served on every
league committee. He has been honored with numerous awards, such as the Pete Rozelle Award from the Touchdown Club in New
Orleans, the NFL Alumni's "Order of the Leather Helmet" and the "Timmie" Award from the Touchdown Club of Washington D.C.,
but none were more appropriate than the Buffalo News naming him the "Tops Sports Figure" in Western New York in the past
millennium.
Beyond the football field, Wilson's philanthropic arm reaches across the country. He has long been recognized for his diverse and generous charitable endeavors
that include such beneficiaries as the food banks of Buffalo and Rochester, the Ronald McDonald House, the United Way, S.P.C.A., the Buffalo Philharmonic, Shea's
Performing Arts Center, and the Hospice Center of WNY, which recently named a new building wing the "Mary and Ralph Wilson, Jr. Hospice Inpatient Unit". For his tremendous
charitable efforts in the Buffalo area over the years, Mr. Wilson was named the Seymour Knox III Humanitarian Award winner in the spring of 2003.
He maintains a permanent residence in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan with his wife, Mary and has three daughters: Linda Bogdan, Christy Wilson-Hoffman, and Dee Dee
Wilson.
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Grants under The Program are competitive and awarded through a closed application process incorporating the five participating institutions.
The Scientific Advisory Committee, made up of one medical science research director from each institution, reviews the applications based upon scientific merit, the perceived likelihood of success and high impact.
The grants are two-year awards with the second year of the grant subject to approval for renewal by the Scientific Advisory Committee.
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Board of Trustees |
Administration |
Ralph C. Wilson, Jr.
Mary Wilson
Eugene Driker
Jeffrey C. Littmann
Mary Owen
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Jeffrey C. Littmann, Treasurer
Mary Owen, Executive Director |
Participating Institutions / Scientific Advisory Committee |
The Cleveland Clinic: |
Guy Chisolm, Ph.D.
Department of Cell Biology, The Lerner Research Institute |
Mayo Clinic: |
Matthew Ames, Ph.D
Professor and Chair
Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Mayo Medical and Graduate Schools Co-Leader, Developmental Therapeutics Program
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The Miami Project: |
Barth A. Green, M.D.
Professor & Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery
Dalton Dietrich, III, Ph. D.
Professor of Medicine and Physiology
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Roswell Park Cancer Institute: |
Candace S. Johnson, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President for Translational Research
Professor of Molecular Pharmacology |
Wayne State University: |
Gloria Heppner, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President for Research |
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