Family’s donation leads to plan to build home for UCI MIND researchers

UC Irvine will begin planning the construction of a new home for its Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, school officials announced this week, the result of significant donations that have so far reached approximately $80 million.

A lead gift of $50 million for the effort came from the Quilter family of Laguna Beach. Ann Quilter, who earned a master’s degree in public administration from UCI in 1979, was prepared to make a substantial contribution of $5 million when, unbeknownst to her, the rest of the family decided to back her donation tenfold.

Ann, 79, whose husband, Charlie, earned a doctorate degree in history from UCI in 2010, said the family’s additional support came as a surprise in the form of a birthday gift. The centralized home of UCI MIND will be named Ann Hutchinson Quilter Hall.

Speaking of the tribute, the Laguna Beach resident called it “probably the most magnificent birthday present,” immediately making note that the true joy was getting a home for UCI MIND. She said when the gift was sprung on her this summer, she was tearful for a week, reflecting on the family’s generosity.

“We are profoundly grateful to the Quilter family for this remarkable lead gift,” UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman said in a statement. “Their support will not only help fund a new building, but their gift and the generosity they have inspired in our community will empower UC Irvine to ultimately find cures for Alzheimer’s and related dementias.”

The family — brothers Charlie, Chris, Matt and Patrick, Matt’s wife, Patty, and Ann — were on hand at UCI MIND’s “December to Remember” gala on Dec. 6, when plans for the building were announced.

“Right now, UCI MIND is located in various basements throughout the campus at UCI,” Ann said. “It’s time that they got out of the basements into a building of their own. The synergy that creates is significant, not only affecting the researchers, but affecting people willing to come down and work with us. It’s a great way to continue to attract top-notch talent. I just can’t wait.”

With a family history of Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, her passion for the science runs deep. She has participated in a longitudinal study, where she gets monitored for memory and cognition assessments each year.

“What [Alzheimer’s] does is it robs you of your memories. And, in my point of view, our memories are what make us human,” she said. “It’s what makes us connect with each other, and to start losing those connections and to not recognize your children or your loved ones is just devastating. [But] I’m encouraged. I believe deeply in science, and science is what we’re doing out at UCI MIND.”

UCI MIND represents a multidisciplinary collaboration of experts, with more than 75 faculty members from over 25 departments contributing to research. Those fields include geriatrics, neurology, neuroscience, nursing, pathology, psychiatry, public health and statistics.

It is also one of 35 Alzheimer’s disease research centers in the country funded by the National Institute on Aging, which awarded it a $21-million renewal grant in July.

“We have a variety of approaches to try to enhance our ability to get people into studies,” said UCI MIND Director Joshua Grill. “I think one of the things that really resonates for Ann and her family about UCI MIND is how much we are in the community. We reach 5,000 to 10,000 people per year with in-person education, trying to help people understand the importance of our mission, but also what we’re learning and the steps they can take to try to maintain their brain health and reduce their own risk for dementia.

“There are no preventions for dementia, as yet, but that’s really a big part of where our research is hoping to go,” he continued. “We share information in real time — to the extent that we’re able — because we want to help everyone avoid these outcomes, if it’s possible.”

Grill said he sometimes gives hour-long talks on ways people can lower their risk of dementia. His tips included cognitive stimulation, a healthy diet, physical exercise, quality sleep and social engagement.

A consent-to-contact registry, which Grill likened to a dating service, helps community members become a match for studies and participate in research.

“We’re trying to connect people in Orange County with studies that might benefit from their participation,” added Grill, who is also a professor of neurobiology, psychiatry and human behavior at UCI. “Research is always voluntary, as is the consent-to-contact registry. When people take the 15 or 20 minutes it takes to enroll, they’re giving us information that helps us better match them to studies.

“We’ve referred more than 10,000 people to be in studies here at UC Irvine. We ask for information about the diagnoses they may have had in their life, or the medications they take. We do that so that we don’t send someone to a study that they can’t possibly qualify for. That’s not in the best interest of them, or of the researchers we’re trying to match them to. We also ask them about the things they’re willing to do in research, again, trying to increase the efficiency with which we refer people to studies.”

To learn more about UCI MIND, or to participate in a study, visit mind.uci.edu.