Massachusetts Eye and Ear given a record grant to research hearing loss
Donation
The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary recently received a significant boost to expand its research into hearing loss: a USD 20 million gift from an anonymous donor.
“It’s a truly wonderful gift that allows us to bring in bright, innovative new researchers and do great work,” said Dr Bradley Welling, the hospital’s Chief of Otolaryngology. According to the Boston Globe, the donation is the second largest in the area of hearing research in the United States, after a USD 25 million gift to the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in 2015.
The hospital said the money will be allocated to the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories for fundamental research and also to hiring new researchers as others begin to retire. “We are going to be focusing on bringing in new researchers and supporting our core labs to research things such as tinnitus and hearing loss,” Welling said.
Hearing loss, tinnitus, and associated disorders are expected to affect an increasing number of people worldwide in the next few decades. “We’ve got an aging population. More of the baby boomers are hitting the age where some form of hearing loss starts. Our research is going to be more important than ever,” Welling added. The donation also comes at the perfect time because of reassessment of funding allocated by the Federal Administration which may affect some scientific and medical research.
Source: Boston Globe
