Fueled by a passion to help preserve memories, Wisconsinite David Adam is literally going the distance to help raise support and awareness for the UW Initiative to End Alzheimer’s. After losing his father and role model to vascular dementia in 2012, Adam took his love for cycling and rode across Canada to help gather funds for Alzheimer’s disease research and programs.

First-generation college student Ethan Taylor ’22, DPTx’25 enlisted in the military at 17 years old. With support from the Gunnery Sergeant Daniel Price Memorial Scholarship Fund, he joined the physical therapy program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, which offered him an inspiring and rewarding future.

UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center is one of three research institutions in the U.S. selected to host a phase I clinical trial of a vaccine for triple-negative breast cancer patients at stages I-III. Dr. Eva Vivian was the first patient nationwide to begin the vaccine series.

After her vacation was dampened by persistent back pain and other mounting symptoms, Susan Skiles knew something was seriously wrong. Following a successful surgery to remove her ovaries and sections of her large intestine and colon, Skiles decided she wanted to seek treatment elsewhere and focused her sites on UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center. With help from gynecologic cancer expert Dr. Ellen Hartenbach, Skiles recognized that she was exactly where she needed and wanted to be.

Wisconsinite Barnabas “Barni” Shiferaw ’22, MDx’26 has his sights set on a future of serving others in the medical field. Barni is the 2022–23 recipient of the Dean’s Academic Scholarship within the UW School of Medicine and Public Health — a fund created to support underrepresented medical students who are members of populations that are experiencing health disparities in the state.

When 28-year-old lung transplant recipient Darlene Johnson walked out of University Hospital in August, 2022, she was not only defying the odds of a grueling 10-month medical nightmare, she was fulfilling a promise she’d made to herself when the possibility of leaving the hospital alive was anything but certain.

Dr. Nathaniel Chin turns his personal experience with Alzheimer’s Disease into work in research at the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and a new podcast, Dementia Matters.

George Fait was passionate about pediatric medicine. With seven grandsons and more than six decades of generosity toward UW–Madison, George rallied his three children and their spouses to focus their philanthropic sites on creating the George Fait Family Pediatric Specialty Clinics at the American Family Children’s Hospital.

American Family Children’s Hospital is one of only a handful of centers across the country that have the capability to perform biventricular conversion – a three-surgery sequence for serious heart complications. After undergoing this highly specialized treatment, Joelle Devries is back home in Oklahoma chasing her siblings and enjoying life on the farm.

After nine months in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and more than a year on the medical surgical unit at American Family Children’s Hospital, 3-year-old Kingston Vang Wraggs finally got out of the hospital.

Cola, a golden doodle mix, joins Kiko at American Family Children’s Hospital as the only two facility dogs in the state of Wisconsin. Our facility dogs provide custom interventions in conjunction with coping plans for patients. This program is supported entirely by philanthropy.

While no family would choose to spend so much time in the hospital with their child, Sarah and Ryan Judd’s unwavering commitment to making hospital life as normal, if not fun-filled as possible, allowed their daughter not only to heal physically but emotionally as well. By trusting the doctors, nurses, therapists and child life specialists, Sarah and Ryan set the tone for Kinsley to view her care team as an extension of her family.

Sarah Russell’s heart went from perfectly healthy to 10% function in just one day. Fortunately, she had the team at the UW Health Heart Transplant Program helping her and she received the gift of life with a heart transplant eight days after her cardiac event.

Thanks to the advances in immunotherapy, skilled oncologists at the UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center and a little bit of genetic luck, Nelson Turner is now cancer free.

After decades of living with chronic kidney disease, a vital transplant gave Pleasant Rowland a healthy kidney, a bright future, and a broader philanthropic scope. She is expressing her profound gratitude through a transformational contribution that will change the face of transplant at the UW Health Transplant Center.

Following a successful kidney transplant at UW Health, Jeff Bakiares and his wife, Lynn, were so moved by the care Jeff received that they focused their philanthropic endeavors on the field of nephrology with a remarkable man in mind, Dr. Didier Mandelbrot.

What UW Health is doing to address shortages for those who need organ transplantation.

Diane’s legacy lives on, giving other women diagnosed with ovarian cancer new hope and inspiring the science and research at UW, every day, forever.

“Too many women are told that incontinence is inevitable as we age or following childbirth. We know it doesn’t have to be this way, and our mission is to share that message broadly and connect those who are experiencing these symptoms with solutions that work for them.” — Dr. Heidi Brown

“Alzheimer’s disease takes an enormous toll on families, but thanks to work being done at UW Health, there is reason for hope.” — Matt Lepay