The T. Boone Pickens Foundation focuses grants to organizations that operate in its core giving categories (see “About TBPF”). The current partner spotlight is The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, a Houston-based, world-recognized center devoted exclusively to cancer patient care, research, education, and prevention.

The Texas Legislature created M. D. Anderson in 1941 as a component of The University of Texas System. The institution is one of the nation’s original three Comprehensive Cancer Centers designated by the National Cancer Act of 1971, and is one of 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers today.
M. D. Anderson ranks first in the number of grants awarded and total amount of grants given by the NCI. Its clinical trials program is the largest research effort of its kind in the nation, with more than 11,500 patients participating in therapeutic clinical research exploring novel treatments in fiscal year 2007.

 In 2008, U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals” survey ranked M. D. Anderson as the top hospital in the nation for cancer care. The institution has achieved the top ranking four times in the past six years and has ranked as one of the top two hospitals for cancer care for 19 years, since the magazine began its annual survey in 1990.

Pickens is a longtime supporter of the institution, through financial commitments and service as a life member of The University Cancer Foundation Board of Visitors. More than 20 years ago he established the Boone Pickens Chair for Early Cancer Prevention at M. D. Anderson. In 2007, the foundation challenged the institution to grow a gift of $50 million, its largest to date, to $500 million over 25 years.

“It is my desire, through these gifts, to build a major legacy that will help ensure the excellence of M. D. Anderson in decades to come,” Pickens says. “My foundation will get 10 for one on its money, and that’s good for all of us.”

In October 2008, the institution formally dedicated its 21-story, 730,000-square-foot T. Boone Pickens Academic Tower in his honor. The same week, the 19th annual “A Conversation With a Living Legend” event featuring Pickens raised a record $1 million, which included $100,000 gifts from both the Pickens Foundation and Madeleine Pickens, for patient care and research initiatives at M. D. Anderson.

“Through his generosity Boone Pickens shows deep compassion for patients, and his philanthropic challenge to us exhibits creativity and ingenuity, concepts we employ daily in our fight against cancer,” says John Mendelsohn, M.D., president of M. D. Anderson. “We look forward to matching his innovation in finance with our innovations in scientific discovery.”

For more information, visit www.mdanderson.org.