The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins has announced it will use a $65 million gift toward the construction of a new patient care building that will be named for the late Albert P. “Skip” Viragh, Jr. Mr. Viragh, a Maryland mutual fund investment leader and philanthropist, was a patient at Johns Hopkins, where he was treated for pancreatic cancer. Mr. Viragh died of the disease in 2003 at age 62.
The Skip Viragh Outpatient Cancer Building is slated for completion in 2017 and will be funded mostly by philanthropic gifts. The new facility will serve as the primary entry point for cancer care on the medical center campus.
“Skip was an innovator in his world of personal finance, and, through his legacy gifts, he continues to partner with Johns Hopkins innovators in cancer care,” says William G. Nelson, MD, PhD, Director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Professor of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “The new building will be far more than a place for physician visits and diagnostic scans. It will be the place where we’ll explore novel ways to deliver cancer care and cures.”
The Skip Viragh Building will be able to accommodate all adult medical oncology patient consultations and house multidisciplinary treatment clinics modeled on one established for pancreas cancer patients who can benefit from a wide range of coordinated surgical, medical, radiation, and other consultations and services.
“Skip’s cancer experience taught us that having a place like Johns Hopkins is a key element in fighting the disease, and now, with Skip’s help, Johns Hopkins will be able to offer innovative, easy-to-navigate care for many more people with cancer,” said Mark Viragh, Skip’s brother.
The gift is part of Rising to the Challenge: The Campaign for Johns Hopkins, an effort to raise $4.5 billion, primarily to support students, research and discovery, and interdisciplinary solutions to some of humanity’s most important problems. The campaign, supporting both the University and Johns Hopkins Medicine, is targeted for completion in 2017. More than $2.44 billion has been committed so far. ■
