Hoglunds give $300,000 for orthopedic, geriatric programs

By Sharon Reynolds

Inspired by the outstanding medical care they received at UT Southwestern, Sally and Forrest Hoglund and their family have made a generous $300,000 gift to support the work of geriatrician Dr. Craig Rubin and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Joel Wells.

“Many of our family members have lived long, healthy lives. We understand that, as people age, geriatric medical professionals guide families and make a difference in their quality of life on a daily basis. As the general population ages, there will be an increasing need for specialized geriatric physicians. It seemed a natural fit for us,” said Kelly H. Compton, the Hoglunds’ daughter.

Geriatricians play a critical role in the health of people as they age, but there remains an extreme shortage of geriatric specialists in the U.S. The elderly may experience considerable impairment or frailty or have to manage multiple health conditions with various health care professionals, which can place great stress on family, friends, or other caregivers.

The Hoglund family’s gift will provide UTSW with the leverage and flexibility to recruit talented clinician educators in geriatric medicine to both care for our patients and help train medical students, residents, and other health care providers in the care of older adults.

“We are truly indebted to the Hoglunds for their support. Their gift will not only sustain UT Southwestern’s nationally recognized geriatrics program, but more importantly help us train our health care workforce to better serve Texas and the nation’s aging population,” said Dr. Rubin, Chief of the Division of Geriatric Medicine. Dr. Rubin is also a Professor of Internal Medicine, Director of the Mildred Wyatt & Ivor P. Wold Center for Geriatric Care, and a Distinguished Teaching Professor.

Because of weakening bones and the onset of other medical issues, seniors are especially susceptible to breaking a hip. The family’s gift will enable Dr. Wells, Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, to build a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive database that will be an important research tool to properly treat patients and teach providers the optimal treatment for complex hip pathologies.

“My outcomes database will help any patient undergoing hip surgery, here and elsewhere. My objective is to prove that not only do certain operations help in the short term, but also the long term. I am forever grateful for the generosity of the Hoglund family, which enables my dream of providing patients with honest real-time outcomes, tracking variables, and improving longevity of hip surgery,” Dr. Wells said.

“We are grateful for the generosity of Sally, Forrest, and their family,” said Dr. Daniel K. Podolsky, President of UT Southwestern. “This gift will support physicians and scientists at UTSW to be national leaders in pioneering geriatric clinical care and research. We appreciate their investment in our faculty and their commitment to our mission as an academic medical center.”

The Hoglund family’s previous gifts to UTSW supported Alzheimer’s disease research. Together and individually, Mr. and Mrs. Hoglund have received numerous awards in Dallas and Houston for their commitment to philanthropy and community leadership.

“Sally and I consider giving back to our communities an obligation,” Mr. Hoglund said. “Having our children and grandchildren involved in our good works brings us great joy, and we know that our work will continue through the commitment of our family to enrich the lives of others.”

 

Dr. Podolsky holds the Philip O’Bryan Montgomery, Jr., M.D. Distinguished Presidential Chair in Academic Administration, and the Doris and Bryan Wildenthal Distinguished Chair in Medical Science.

Dr. Rubin holds The Margaret and Trammell Crow Distinguished Chair in Alzheimer’s and Geriatric Research, the Seymour Eisenberg Distinguished Professorship in Geriatric Medicine, the Sinor/Pritchard (Katy Sinor and Kay Pritchard) Professorship in Medical Education Honoring Donald W. Seldin, M.D., and the Walsdorf Professorship in Geriatrics Research.