Determined to unlock the brain’s mysteries

Sometimes, a mission to support scientific research begins with family, especially when one member of that family has a debilitating disease and doctors have few answers. Helen Dorris decided to fund focused investigations into the workings of the human brain and its myriad neurological disorders because her twin brother endured a lifetime of limited treatments and no cure.

Combining appreciated real estate and cash into a game-changing donation of $10 million in 1999, she established a neuroscience center at Scripps Research and then founded a second one specializing in children and adolescents. She saw that they were outfitted with state-of-the art research tools, and she worked alongside leadership to help recruit top faculty. In 2010, her succeeding donation consolidated the two centers into the Dorris Neuroscience Center, while also creating an endowment to ensure that the scientists’ research into the brain’s complexities will continue uninterrupted. Dorris increased that endowment with a $5.6 million gift in 2015.

A former university professor, Dorris recognizes the potential in young scientists to send research down bold new paths and so the Center provides students a number of awards, scholarships and internship opportunities. Foresight, as many have acknowledged, is one of her best attributes. While her donations have been significant, Helen Dorris remains modest.

My hope is that the institute can utilize the resources I can offer to support ‘the best and brightest’ in the quest for solutions to the workings of the brain and neurological disorders.

The brain presents a challenging frontier, but Dorris’ investment in critical studies at Scripps Research promises to pay enormous dividends in biomedical discoveries.