Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, UNC Health and the UNC School of Medicine’s top physicians and researchers have worked tirelessly to find answers, notably through vaccine research and therapeutic development. While these discoveries have brought us closer to a world without COVID-19, a growing volume of evidence suggests the effect of the virus on health and wellness can last much longer than infection, and in unexpected ways.
The McAllister Heart Institute (MHI) at the School of Medicine received generous funding to study the effects of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, on the cardiovascular system and its potential links to heart failure. The institute is the principal research center for cardiovascular disease at the SOM, named in 2009 for Hugh A. “Chip” McAllister Jr., MD ’66, after he made the largest-ever single gift to cardiovascular research at the School.
After his death in 2018, McAllister’s family foundation continued to support the institute’s work and recently designated $100,000 for COVID-19-related cardiovascular research.
“We feel very fortunate and grateful to have had Chip McAllister and now his family foundation interested and invested in the work that we’re doing,” said Victoria Bautch, PhD, Co-Director of McAllister Heart Institute. “He was our biggest cheerleader.”
Kimberley McAllister, Chip’s daughter and president of the McAllister Charitable Foundation, stressed that now is the time to invest in emerging needs during the pandemic.
Read more from the UNC Health Foundation.