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Ross and Mary Whipple Pledge $1.5M for UAMS Cancer Care, Patient Services, Orthopaedics

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Ross and Mary Whipple have pledged $1.5 million to UAMS, supporting rural cancer care, patient services and orthopaedics.

The gifts include $1 million to establish the Ross and Mary Whipple Family Community Outreach and Engagement Fund for Excellence in the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, $250,000 to The Orthopaedic and Spine Hospital at UAMS and $250,000 to establish the Nancy “Jo” Smith Special Services Fund for Excellence.

Ross Whipple is president and CEO of Horizon Capital Partners LLC and president of Horizon Timber Services Inc. He also serves as chairman for The Ross Foundation Board of Trustees. Mary Whipple is secretary of Horizon Capital Partners and serves on the board of the Ross Foundation. She also serves on the board of the Baptist Health Medical Center in Arkadelphia.

The $1 million community outreach and engagement fund, a nonendowed fund, will benefit the cancer institute’s outreach and engagement program for increasing early detection cancer screenings for breast, lung, colon and prostate cancer in Arkansas’ rural and underserved communities.

The gift also aims to help establish UAMS as a National Cancer Institute Designated Cancer Center. UAMS has been working to achieve the designation for years, reaching a fundraising goal of $30 million in February.

“Our gift to the cancer institute is an excellent opportunity to help bring the program statewide, providing cancer treatment access to the more rural areas of the state,” Ross Whipple said in a news release. “In terms of clinical care, NCI Designation will have tremendous impact on the quality of life for people suffering with cancer.”

The couple’s gift to The Orthopaedic and Spine Hospital at UAMS was made in gratitude to Dr. C. Lowry Barnes, chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in the UAMS College of Medicine, and Dr. Robert D. Martin, an orthopaedic foot and ankle surgeon and assistant professor in the department.

The Whipples’ giving also establishes the Nancy “Jo” Smith Special Services Fund for Excellence, a nonendowed fund, in the UAMS Foundation Fund to support and expand patient services.

“UAMS is an institution that heals patients, educates students and conducts great research, and we are confident that the people of Arkansas are going to see a great return from our investment,” Ross Whipple said in the release.

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