Warren Foundation  

In May 2022, Vanderbilt University received $20 million from The William K. Warren Foundation, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to establish the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery. 

The William K. Warren Foundation was founded in 1945 by oilman William Kelly Warren and his wife, Natalie Overall Warren, who graduated from Vanderbilt (1920) and shares that distinction with her father (1885) and her four siblings. The Warren Foundation established Oklahoma’s largest health care provider, the Saint Francis Health System, and the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa. The Foundation supports health care innovation, medical research, Catholic initiatives, education and Tulsa-specific causes. In addition to supporting research efforts, part of the Warren gift will be used to create an endowment designed to encourage mentorship and the development of a long-term pipeline of research leaders. The Warren Foundation has been a longstanding supporter of Vanderbilt and its Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery. There are currently seven endowed faculty chairs supported by the foundation—ranging in disciplines from medicine and pediatrics to divinity—as well as the William K. Warren Foundation Scholarship for deserving undergraduates in the College of Arts & Science. 

“Genuine breakthroughs sometimes require taking paths that may not seem promising—or at least commercially viable—in the earliest stages of scientific investigation,” said Craig Lindsley, who holds the William K. Warren, Jr. Chair in Medicine. “The support of philanthropic organizations like the Warren Foundation is critical to making discoveries that may not otherwise see the light of day and translate them to the clinic.” 

Edited from https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2020/05/05/vanderbilt-receives-20-million-from-the-william-k-warren-foundation-to-further-treatments-for-brain-disorders/