Features | Jun. 2023
GAME CHANGING GIFT
By Mitch Hurst
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab has announced a $15 million gift from John and Kathy Schreiber of Lake Forest.
The gift has been directed to Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s Accelerate Ability fundraising campaign. Specifically, it will fund innovative care and game-changing research targeted to patients with diverse brain conditions (e.g., traumatic brain injury and stroke). It also will support Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s quality-of-life-programming, which helps patients adapt and thrive in their communities.
In recognition of this momentous gift, patients undergoing treatment for brain conditions will receive care in the newly named John and Kathy Schreiber Brain Innovation Center.
“We have invested heavily in advancing care and research for patients with various brain conditions, and also in helping people of all abilities participate in meaningful, life-enriching activities,” says Peggy Kirk, president and CEO, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. “This generous gift from John and Kathy Schreiber enables us to double down on this important work. We are so grateful for their investment in our mission and our patients.”
In addition to this gift, over the past decade the Schreibers generously have supported Shirley Ryan AbilityLab—from contributing to the capital campaign for its state-of-the-art hospital, which opened in 2017, to quality-of-life programming and initiatives to speed patient recoveries using data insights.
“As longtime residents of the Chicagoland area, John and I have developed a deeply personal connection with Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s important mission and have seen firsthand the powerful ways in which the hospital’s integrated team of clinicians and researchers advance patients’ abilities,” said Kathy Schreiber. “We are thrilled to support Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s transformational model of care, and the diverse patient communities it serves.”
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s three-year, $100 million Accelerate Ability campaign was established in honor of Joanne C. Smith, MD, the organization’s visionary former president and CEO who passed away in 2021. The campaign is focused on four areas of critical importance—shortening the time frame for scientific discovery; attracting and retaining leading scientists and clinicians; revolutionizing research and recovery with novel, data-driven insights; and supporting unique specialty programs for a rapidly growing number of patients.
Gifts to Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s Accelerate Ability fundraising campaign can be made by calling 312-238-6013. Shirley Ryan AbilityLab has received gifts from several donors that will provide matching funds throughout the course of the campaign. For more information, visit sralab.org.
