Kathleen Gilmore, one of the newest members of the USC Leonard Davis School Board of Councilors, recently helped create a research fund dedicated to the study of the biology of aging.
Gilmore, who was recently named chairman and president in addition to being principal at Clifford Swan Investment Counselors in Pasadena, was inspired by many of the school’s newest and youngest faculty recruits. She was particularly taken with the research into female differences in aging pioneered by Assistant Professor Bérénice Benayoun. Gilmore’s $100,000 gift will provide immediate support for faculty members studying the biology of aging, with $20,000 given each year over a five-year period.
Awardees will be able to use this vital support to gather necessary pilot data to compete for larger, prestigious National Institutes of Health grants. The first awardee for this support was Gilmore’s initial inspiration, Benayoun.
“I’m pleased to help young, brilliant Leonard Davis School scientists like Benayoun realize their potential and give them a head start on their path to a successful research career,” Gilmore says.
For her part, Benayoun says she feels “honored and excited to have inspired this gift to the school! This award will be invaluable to help support my lab’s research into sex differences in aging — an understudied topic with huge consequences for the way we think about lifelong health and disease.”
If you would like information on how you can help early career scientists in their pioneering research at the Leonard Davis School, please call the Development Office at (213) 740-1361.
Top photo: Danny Turner
