The $45 million construction project is being supported, in part, by a donation from Leonard and Susan Feinstein of Brookville, NY. Mr. Feinstein is co-founder and co-chairman of the highly successful national retail chain Bed Bath & Beyond. In recognition of the donation, the single largest ever received by the health system, North Shore-LIJ has renamed its research organization The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. The institute will also leverage the Feinsteins' gift with the approximately $50 million it brings in annually in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Department of Defense and other sources to augment its disease-oriented research expertise in cancer, immunology, genetics and neuroscience. The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research is among the top six percent of all NIH-funded institutions nationally, and ranks 34th among independent NIH-funded research institutes. Michael J. Dowling, the health system's president and chief executive officer, said, "Earning the Feinsteins' confidence and support is a testament to the progress we have made in advancing science, shaping medicine and curing disease. We are thankful for their extraordinary generosity."Mr. Feinstein has served on the institute's board of directors since 2000, a year after it was founded. At that time, he and his wife made another sizable donation to establish the Susan and Leonard Feinstein Center for Neurosciences. From the beginning of their involvement with the institute, they have been sensitive to the financial investment required to tackle disease-oriented research from multiple directions. Mr. Feinstein said, "We think it is better to find the answers and cures by coming at the problem from 12 different directions, with overlap and freedom of ideas, working independently and with synergy, because you never know where the next answers will come from. It is an extremely expensive undertaking to fund an enterprise where intellectual freedom is encouraged." The Feinsteins' interest in research stems, in part, from a family tragedy in 1982. Their eldest son, Barry, then 21, was driving home from college when he was struck by a vehicle that sped through a red light. Barry sustained a severe head injury in the collision and spent months receiving treatment in numerous hospitals. When Barry was released, the Feinsteins discovered there were no long-term-care facilities on Long Island for traumatic brain injury survivors, forcing them to seek rehabilitation services and residence for him out of state. They founded The Long Island Head Injury Association and raised enough money to build and staff a local facility. When it opened, it housed eight patients. The operation has grown today to accommodate nearly 150 head-injured residents in apartments, houses and other facilities across Long Island. Barry now lives in one of the association's assisted living residences. Mr. Feinstein said, "We hope that our confidence in the tremendous core of research scientists and intellect at the Institute for Medical Research, as evidenced by our willingness to give this amount of money, will elicit other individuals to step forward in support of biomedical research at North Shore-LIJ."Construction is scheduled to begin in early winter and be completed in late 2007. In addition to two floors of basic science laboratories, the new building will contain an international conference center and an entire floor devoted to clinical research, where the institute's Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and numerous other research programs will conduct studies.
