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NEWS & UPDATES

Gift Snapshots

Kennedy Chair ADdresses NEED for Neuropsychiatric Research

With more than 9,400 psychiatric and therapy appointments annually, the Houston Methodist Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health offers the only psychiatric treatment program within a nationally recognized hospital in Houston. A recent gift from Gayle and Tom Kennedy launched the Gayle and Tom Kennedy Distinguished Endowed Chair in Neuro-psychiatric Research, which will allow Houston Methodist to expand its footprint into this much-needed field. The department already provides a full continuum of care, using knowledge gained from clinical trials and other research advances to offer patients promising new therapies and the latest in pharmacologic treatments and medication management.

CHAPMAN FUND ADVANCES HYPERTENSION TREATMENT AND RESEARCH

Thanks to Charles M. Chapman Jr. and Diane Chapman, the Chapman Pulmonary Hypertension Fund will support patients through expanded education, patient care and research initiatives in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine in the Houston Methodist Department of Medicine. The division leverages extensive expertise and advanced technology to offer the latest treatments and clinical trials as well as a specialized care team — including surgeons, radiologists and emergency room staff — that is available 24/7.

TUMA FAMILY ELEVATES NEPHROLOGY EDUCATION FOR FUTURE SPECIALISTS

Houston Methodist-affiliated kidney specialist Dr. Samir N. Tuma and his wife, Grace I. Tuma, recently established the Dr. Samir N. Tuma Academic Endowed Chair in Nephrology in the Houston Methodist Department of Medicine to expand education in nephrology, the branch of medicine focused on diagnosing and treating kidney conditions. Passionate about kidney instruction, the couple also supports a Department of Medicine lectureship in nephrology. Dr. Tuma was one of the earliest physician-scientists to write about kidney disease caused by amyloidosis, which occurs when amyloid proteins abnormally fold to form deposits in the kidneys.

CENTER FOR HEALTH & NATURE TO BENEFIT FROM DURDIN ENDOWMENT

Jean W. Durdin’s impactful generosity will initiate the Jean W. Durdin, Durdin Family Endowment, bolstering the mission of the Center for Health & Nature. The Center for Health & Nature is a collaboration among Houston Methodist, Texas A&M Health and Texan by Nature. This dynamic partnership explores the role of nature in patient care through evidence-based health and nature programs, research and education efforts.

GIFT FOSTERS LEGACY IN Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery

An important new endowed chair in the Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center has been made possible by a gift from the Sir Horace Kadoorie International Foundation, in memory of Lady Betty Kadoorie. The foundation’s generous support — aimed at helping spur new levels of accomplishment in the field — is commemorated by naming the position the Dr. Gerald M. Lawrie Distinguished Endowed Chair in Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery.
The chair is named in honor of Dr. Lawrie, who holds the Michael E. DeBakey Distinguished Chair in Cardiac Surgery in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery. Working extensively with globally recognized Dr. Michael E. DeBakey for more than 20 years, he developed special expertise in cardiac valve repair as well as blood-conserving and minimally invasive cardiac surgery.

Patients, Families Find Comfort in Musical Gift

Merging her skills as an accomplished pianist and her passion for community service, Sharon Ley Lietzow is dedicated to organizations that promote the value of music. It’s that devotion that led Sharon to gift the Steinway piano she inherited from her cherished late teacher to Houston Methodist Hospital. Today, the same piano on which she began lessons at the age of seven resides in the hospital’s Barbara and President George H.W. Bush Atrium, its notes drifting up toward the third-floor waiting room. As Sharon points out, “The piano really is the gift that keeps on giving.” Sharon and her husband, Bob, also made a generous gift to establish the Robert and Sharon Ley Lietzow Healing Arts Endowment in the Center for Performing Arts Medicine (CPAM) to assure that the piano and other instruments in CPAM’s inventory are carefully maintained.

THE Hamill Foundation AMPLIFIES Support

Numerous medical specialty fields are enhanced thanks to The Hamill Foundation’s recent investments in technology and medical equipment, a Urology Robotics Fellowship, the Women’s Urology Clinic and ALS research, as well as research innovations for lung and liver cancer in the Houston Methodist Dr. Mary and Ron Neal Cancer Center. Claud and Marie Hamill’s and The Hamill Foundation’s contributions have funded some of Houston Methodist’s most vital programs since their first gift more than 50 years ago. Their generosity has supported a broad array of initiatives, including prostate cancer research and other areas within the Men’s Health Center, community stroke education, nursing excellence, neurodegenerative disease research, bereavement intervention and many other critical areas.
Musical Destiny
It’s as though it were written in the stars. When Sharon Ley Lietzow began taking lessons on her piano teacher’s Steinway at age seven in Oklahoma, little did she know the path her musical talents and passions would take her — and the kind of impact they would have on so many people.
Her many notable achievements as a pianist include performing the Battle Hymn of the Republic at former President George H.W. Bush’s funeral in 2018 at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, where she also sings in the choir.
Merging her skills as an accomplished pianist and her passion for her church and community service, Sharon has made a life out of helping found and lead organizations dedicated to promoting the value of music and musical instruction. In 1996, Sharon’s friend and founder of Houston Methodist’s Center for Performing Arts Medicine (CPAM), Dr. C. Richard Stasney, invited her to serve on CPAM’s inaugural board of directors. Her service on the board led to a close friendship with J. Todd Frazier, CPAM’s current director and The Gerald H. Dubin, MD Presidential Distinguished Centennial Chair in the Art of Medicine, who — unbeknownst to her — also just happened to be the son of a close friend. For years, Sharon and her husband, Bob, made contributions to help maintain the instruments in CPAM’s musical instrument inventory.
When her beloved childhood piano teacher passed away, Lietzow inherited her piano. A treasured gift, the piano is a reminder of cherished memories with her teacher and of the time when her love of music was ignited.
Those seemingly disparate events in her life — the piano, her involvement with CPAM, her chance association with her friend’s son and her performance at former President Bush’s funeral — colluded with destiny in 2024 when she made a gift of love by donating the piano to Houston Methodist Hospital. Once the piano was delivered, one September afternoon and in the company of her husband and Frazier, Sharon played Brahms under the portrait of former President George H.W. Bush in Houston Methodist’s Walter Tower on the very piano at which she had sat as a young girl. The interconnectedness of the circumstances that led to that very day seemed like musical destiny.
In 2024, the Lietzows also made a gift to establish the Robert and Sharon Ley Lietzow Healing Arts Endowment in the Center for Performing Arts Medicine, ensuring that the piano, as well as CPAM’s other instruments, would be serviced and maintained in perpetuity. The piano’s new home, named in honor of Barbara and former President George H.W. Bush, is the three-story Bush Atrium that connects Walter Tower to the rest of the Houston Methodist Hospital campus. There, the piano’s notes drift throughout the room and up toward the third-floor waiting room. “It’s a perfect spot for the piano because people waiting for loved ones to come out of surgery can hear it, and it has a calming influence,” says Sharon. Noting that people will enjoy the piano’s music for another 50 years, Sharon adds, “The piano really is the gift that keeps on giving.”