CLEVELAND — A graduate of an Ohio medical school is giving back in a big way.
Rebecca Barchas said she decided she wanted to be a psychiatrist at age six and later earned her medical degree from Case Western Reserve University.
Following her retirement, Barchas said she decided to leave a lasting legacy at her alma mater by contributing $3.5 million to create an endowed chair and resources to research psychiatric or neuro-related illnesses and treatment. She said she spent 40 years saving for this purpose.
“If you train other people to do things well and they do things well even when they’re no longer associated with you, the reality is you’ve helped to give them the foundation so they could do things well into the future,” she said.
The first recipient of the Rebecca E. Barchas, M.D. Professorship of Translational Psychiatry is Dr. Andrew Peeper.
Peeper and his team of student and post-graduate researchers are investigating neurological degeneration. A focus right now is the blood-brain barrier, which Peeper said can break down with age, illness or injury, leaving the brain vulnerable to toxins from the blood and other potential issues. He said that can kill brain cells.
The particular research is so new, Peeper said it’s not financially supported through traditional methods, which can take a long time to receive.
“The funding from an endowed chair allows you to pivot very quickly in new directions and decide to study something right away, rather than having to go through a several-month-long process to secure funding,” he said.
The professorship set up by Barchas provides some financial stability for the lab and empowers the researchers to pursue their hypotheses, hoping to affect lives in the future.
“I hope that people can understand what a huge difference philanthropy can make in terms of pushing science forward in new, innovative directions,” Peeper said.
“I know this chair will have impact,” Barchas said. “It will continuously have the potential for real good and, at times, for real greatness. And that thrills me.”
