Charles Chabal III and Sharon W. Chabal have pledged on Mar. 12 to create a $1.5 million fund supporting the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
The donation aims to advance research in traumatic brain injury, cardiac arrest, and other critical health events that can have sudden and life-altering impacts on patients and their families.
Anantha Shekhar, John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of the School of Medicine and senior vice chancellor for the health sciences at Pitt, said, “Traumatic brain injury, cardiac arrest and the other devastating events studied by the Safar Center often come out of nowhere and change the lives of the patients and their families forever. We thank the Chabals for their commitment to driving research in this very important field and providing training for the next generation of researchers.”
The Safar Center’s programs cover a range of topics including neurocritical care, child abuse, therapeutic hypothermia, hemorrhagic shock, combat casualty care, and rehabilitation after central nervous system injury. The center collaborates with several departments within Pitt’s School of Medicine as well as UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, along with national and international partners.
Robert S.B. Clark, interim director of the Safar Center, said, “We are immensely grateful to Charles and Sharon for creating the Dr. Charles Chabal and Sharon Workman Chabal BSN MSN and Family Endowment for Breakthroughs in Resuscitation Research. This gift will provide vital support to the Safar Center, to facilitate the groundbreaking work of our outstanding team of faculty, staff and trainees working across the fields of acute brain injury and resuscitation medicine in its broadest sense.”
Charles Chabal trained with CPR pioneer Peter Safar in the 1980s at what was then known as the International Resuscitation Research Center. Reflecting on his experience he said, “In gratitude for that opportunity, which provided my foundational experience in anesthesiology research, I am moved to give back to the center. I have always had the utmost respect for the work being done at the Safar Center, and Sharon and I are continually impressed by the staff’s dedication to advancing resuscitation science.”
Sharon Chabal added: “This is such important work in a field that can impact any family, at any time. It makes us immensely proud to know we are playing a role, if even a small one, in helping improve lives.”
The endowed fund will support activities such as translational research projects, equipment upgrades, training opportunities for young scientists or clinicians-in-training at conferences or through mentorship programs.
