dhillon
News Releases
1/22/08
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A University of Kansas Medical Center pulmonary researcher is the first Kansas City-based scientist to be awarded a Parker B. Francis Fellowship.
Navneet Dhillon, a researcher in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, is one of 18 researchers nationwide who received the prestigious fellowships. The fellowships have been awarded annually by the Kansas City, Mo.-based Francis Family Foundation since 1976. Each fellowship is worth $150,000 over a three-year period.
Dhillon is working with other researchers at KU Medical Center to study the impact of delivering nanoparticles to the lung to prevent the development of pneumonia or tuberculosis in HIV-positive patients.
“This award validates the work our department conducts,” Dhillon said. “It has given me a very strong platform for future research and opened the door to National Institutes of Health funding for other projects.”
The foundation’s Scientific Council of Advisors received more than 65 applications for the fellowships and selected the top 18.
Parker B. Francis, founder of the Puritan-Bennett Co., established a foundation bearing his name in 1951 in Kansas City, Mo. Because Puritan-Bennett was a leading manufacturer of respiratory equipment and medical gases, the primary emphasis of its foundation was pulmonary research. Today, the Francis Family Foundation remains the sole benefactor of the Parker B. Francis Fellowship Program. The foundation also supports educational and cultural programs in the greater Kansas City area.
The gift was made to KU Endowment, an independent, nonprofit foundation serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.
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