Cornell Stories: Life Sciences
John and Janet Swanson are helping Cornell improve the health of humans and wildlife.
Janet and John Swanson
When John Swanson '61, BS '62, MEng '63, chose to support his alma mater, he wanted his gift to address College of Engineering priorities, but he wasn't sure how best to help. So he asked. "They came up with a proposal," he recalls. "I didn't have to research an opportunity. It was presented to me, and I took advantage of it."
Swanson's wife, Janet, on the other hand, wasn't exactly looking for a philanthropic opportunity when one presented itself during a campus visit with her husband. A longtime animal lover, she toured the College of Veterinary Medicine and found several ways she wanted to support the administration's long-term goals.
This year, John Swanson dedicated $10 million to the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME), and Janet Swanson made an additional $1.45 million gift to the College of Veterinary Medicine to establish a dedicated space for the Wildlife Health Clinic and endow a residency in shelter medicine. "We have interests that we share and interests that are more specialized," says John Swanson. "I focus on education. Janet focuses on animals. And we also focus on things together."
Faculty say Swanson's gift will transform biomedical engineering, a component of the New Life Sciences Initiative and a discipline that draws on expertise across campus. When the Life Sciences Technology Building is completed, BME will be housed there to facilitate collaborations.
"We're a brand new department and have really good junior faculty members, but we need more senior leadership," says Michael Shuler, BME department chair and the Samuel B. Eckert Professor of Chemical Engineering. "A senior position funded through John's gift will provide intellectual leadership, improve the visibility of the department, and enhance its effect on the outside world." The gift also provides research and instructional support for the senior faculty member and much-needed laboratory and teaching space for graduate and undergraduate BME students in the Life Sciences Technology Building.
To Swanson, the importance of biomedical research and training was obvious. "I'm not a young person anymore," he says, "and as my body falls apart, I feel it's worthwhile to support activities that will help other people in the future." A longtime friend of the College of Engineering, Swanson has also supported such student team competitions as RoboCup and the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Grand Challenge, endowed research facilities and faculty positions in the college, and fostered new lines of inquiry. Beyond his interest in improving the world through better medical devices, he admits he has something of a personal stake in the field, as well. "I'm talking to researchers and thinking, ‘I want that now—inject that here, that's where it hurts.'"
Janet Swanson has long dedicated herself to animal welfare. Her household has always included a number of shelter adoptees—two dogs and four cats currently share the Swansons' Florida home, along with a trio of birds—and she has frequently deployed her sewing skills to donate quilts for animal shelter fundraising auctions.
Endowing the Janet L. Swanson Shelter Medicine Veterinary Resident was a natural choice. Cornell was the first veterinary college in the country to recognize the importance of educating students about the health and welfare of shelter animals. Through instruction and hands-on experience at local shelters, students learn to evaluate and create preventive medicine and disease control treatment protocols in animal shelters, particularly no-kill facilities. The Swanson Resident will be affiliated with the college's Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program, under Dr. Jan Scarlett's directorship.
Extending her support to wild creatures was a philosophically compatible next step for Janet. "Wildlife suffer because human beings are encroaching on what belongs to them," she says. "We move in and build our houses, our roads. We're causing them great pain and suffering." George Kollias, the Jay Hyman Professor of Wildlife Medicine, who oversees the treatment of some 500 cases annually, agrees. "Virtually 95 percent of what we see in the clinic is the result of human actions toward wildlife, either directly or indirectly. We have a responsibility for that."
"This program is a great opportunity to inform the public," says lecturer Noha Abou-Madi, a clinician who travels weekly to Syracuse's Burnet Park Zoo to care for animals there. "Meanwhile, our students and residents learn—very early in the curriculum—to work with species that might be difficult." The clinic currently shares space with the exotic pet service, a situation the Swanson gift will help rectify. "We're running out of space, and there's so much noise that it affects the health of the animals," says Abou-Madi. "Moving the clinic means we have more space, and it's more appropriate for the animals." As Kollias says, "Since we're committed to wildlife medicine, we should be leaders in the field and not third-string players."
To Janet Swanson, the reason for getting involved was more direct. "I can't see walking away if you can help," she says. "It's that simple."
Written by Sharon Tregaskis for Communiqué, Fall 2006