Media Contact: Michael Schwartzberg, GBMC Media Relations Manager

(O): 443-849-2126/Cell: 410-258-3465eMarch 2:]

GBMC Establishes Chair In Urological Research

Generous $3 Million Gift From Frederick County Patient

Allows For Groundbreaking Move At Community Hospital

BALTIMORE, Md. –   September 20, 2007 – With a generous donation of $3 million from a grateful Frederick County patient, the Greater Baltimore Medical Center has established an endowed chair of urological research, a groundbreaking development for a community hospital.  Ronald F. Tutrone, M.D., GBMC’s Division Head of Urology, will serve as the first chairperson of the William E. Kahlert GBMC Chair in Urological Research, the hospital’s first-ever endowed research chair. This marks one of the largest gifts made to GBMC from a living donor.

“The creation of a research chair in urology will have far reaching benefits for patients and our community-at-large,” said Dr. Tutrone, who has been a principal investigator in more than 60 clinical trials and serves as medical director for Summit Clinical Research Associates, a subsidiary of Chesapeake Urology Associates, one of the largest urological groups in the country.

The William E. Kahlert GBMC Chair in Urological Research will provide an avenue for continuous support of significant clinical trials in urology. For more than 15 years, Dr. Tutrone, a resident of Towson, has been conducting significant research in prostate, bladder and kidney cancers, overactive bladder and urinary incontinence, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and erectile dysfunction. Plans for the growth of urological research programs are already underway at several Chesapeake Urology satellite offices (GBMC, Bellona, Bel Air, Owings Mills, Glen Burnie), with the hope of establishing at least five new trials at each location.  

“We are very grateful for this generous gift from Mr. Kahlert, which will certainly help pave the way for urological research well into the future,” says Dr. Tutrone.  It is believed that GBMC will be the only community hospital in Maryland with an endowed chair in urological research.

“There are still many unknowns in the field of urology, which holds some great mysteries,” Kahlert said.  “Over the years I came to embrace the quality of care at GBMC and I was looking for a cause I could embrace.  Dr. Tutrone is an excellent physician with great medical skills and this seemed like a natural fit.”  Kahlert previously donated funds to the hospital through the GBMC Foundation for the purchase of operating room equipment and a daVinciä surgical robot.

According to the National Cancer Institute, nearly 220,000 Americans will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007, and more than 27,000 will die from the disease. Prostate cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men and the second leading cause of cancer death in men. Despite these statistics, with aggressive screenings, the mortality rate from prostate cancer has been reduced by 3.6 percent during the past decade. GBMC offers several active clinical trials in prostate cancer ranging from prevention to treatment of metastatic disease.

GBMC is a leader in surgical procedures in Maryland, performing more total surgical and operative procedures than any other community hospital in the state and continuing to provide expert university-level care in a community hospital setting.

GBMC includes Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), Central Maryland’s leading community hospital; Hospice of Baltimore, which provides comfort and care to patients with life-limiting illnesses; and the GBMC Foundation, which supports the GBMC mission by managing fundraising efforts.  The 292-bed Medical Center, located on a beautiful suburban campus, serves nearly 22,000 inpatients annually and provides approximately 60,000 emergency room visits. For more information, go to www.gbmc.org

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