Duchossois Family Gives $100 Million To University Of Chicago Medicine
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A prominent Chicago area family has made a $100 million donation to University of Chicago Medicine, to help fund research on "a new science of wellness."
The Duchossois family, which owns Arlington Park racetrack, has donated millions to the University of Chicago in the past, but the university said Wednesday's donation is the largest single gift ever to its hospital system, and the fourth ever single gift of $100 million or more to the university.
The university and the Duchossois family announced the gift at the school's Gleacher Center downtown.
The $100 million will be used to establish the Duchossois Family Institute to support research that focuses on preventing disease, rather than finding ways to treat it.
"It's going to benefit people that are impacted by a special approach to keeping us healthy, rather than trying to fix a disease after we have it. So it's really, one might call it social investing," Craig Duchossois said.
The institute won't be housed in a new building. A group of scientists and staff will work in existing labs at University of Chicago Medicine, and the school expects the $100 million to fund the work for 10 years.
