Carolina Alumni Review - November/December 2009

Creating a CAROLINA LEGACY

Photo by Steve Exum

y Heart of the Matter y

;;; ;;;;;;;;; ;; ;;;;;; ;;; ;;; ;;;;;; ;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;

C;;; M;A;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;; a tsunami of heart disease is coming, and he’s doing all he can to prevent it.

“A;;;;;;, ;;;; ;;;; half of Americans die of some form of cardiovascular disease, and new patients are getting younger,” McAllister said. “We need to ;nd out its molecular basis – how and why we get it. Then we can prevent and perhaps even reverse it.”

A;; ;; ;;;;;; know. Just ;ve years after graduating from the UNC School of Medicine in ;;;;, Hugh A. “Chip” McAllister Jr. was named chairman of the department of cardiovascular pathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. He remained there until retiring from the Medical Corps in ;;;; as a Colonel. Then he began a second career as the founding chairman of the Texas Heart Institute’s department of cardiovascular pathology.

N;;, M;A;;;;;;; ;;; focused his e;orts on establishing UNC as the place that will solve the mysteries of cardiovascular disease – which encompass genetic conditions such as sickle cell anemia and coagulation disorders to common diseases such as hypertension and atherosclerosis, the most common cause of heart attacks and stroke.

“I ;;;; ;;;;; scientists, the best in the country, to come to UNC,” said McAllister, who grew up in Lumberton. “We’re not going to let up.”

M;A;;;;;;; ;;;; ; three-part gift to establish and support the UNC McAllister Heart Institute. He made an outright gift of cash, so research could begin immediately. He also established a charitable gift annuity with Carolina, which pays him income, removes some tax burdens from his estate, and provides another gift to UNC at his death. Then, he made further provisions through his personal foundation that will also bene;t UNC for years afterward.

“M; ;;; ;; giving is appropriate to the challenge before us,” he said. “I give what I can now, but I know the mysteries of cardiovascular disease will not be solved quickly. This way, even after I’m gone, the work can continue.”

D;. C;; P;;;;;;;;, chief of the Division of Cardiology at UNC and director of the Carolina Cardiovascular Biology Center, called McAllister’s gift “life-altering.”

“G;;;;;;; ;;;;; ;;;; this one are crucial to our having the resources and ;exibility to do the kind of research that will change our understanding of cardiovascular disease over the next decade,” Patterson said. “Chip McAllister is a visionary scientist himself, and we are fortunate and honored to be able to follow in footsteps of giants like him.”