By Alan Kline – Senior Editor, Washington Business Journal - Sep 26, 2024 - Children’s National Hospital has landed another large gift from the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), this time to help support prenatal and neonatal care and research.
The $35 million donation, announced Thursday, comes some five years after the UAE donated $30 million to help Children’s build its research and innovation campus at the former Walter Reed Medical Center and 15 years after it provided a gift of $150 million for construction of the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, named for the UAE’s founding father.
The UAE’s support of Children’s National dates to the early 1990s, when the UAE opened a medical office in D.C. Since then, the partnership has yielded 82 U.S. patents and “countless medical breakthroughs for kids and their families,” Children’s National said in a news release.
The UAE government also counts on Children’s National to provide care to dozens of Emirati families that travel to D.C. each year to access the hospital’s advanced services and treatments.
The donation, among the largest in Children's history, is biggest the hospital has received since Michelle Riley-Brown replaced Kurt Newman as president and CEO about 15 months ago. Just before Newman retired, an anonymous family donated $96 million to help fund research and treatments for pediatric brain tumors.
“I am deeply grateful for the UAE’s most recent gift,” Riley-Brown said in a statement. “The contribution will positively impact children and families and support the teams of researchers and specialists who dedicate their lives to developing innovative medical care.”
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