
We all do our fair share of ranting about the injustices done to the gay community.....the Mormon church, Prop H8, Fred Phelps.....well, maybe I do more than my fair share. But I was reading today about a man who donated $100 million to AIDS research.
Yes.
One. Hundred. Million.
Phillip T. Ragon, who gave the money--$100 million--to Massachusetts General Hospital, is the chief executive of a software company called InterSystems Corp. This $100 million gift will establish the Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Institute. Ragon's $100 million--and I'm going to keep talking about the amount because it's huuuuge--will be shared between Massachusetts General, MIT and Harvard.
Said Phillip T. Ragon: "By providing flexible funding [to the tune of $100 million] and by connecting science and engineering at MIT and Harvard with the research and clinical resources of MGH, we intend to empower many of the world's best researchers to focus on what they view as the most promising research."
This gift--this $100 million--will be used to bring scientists and clinicians together to better understand how the body fights infections and ultimately to apply that understanding to a broad range of infectious diseases and cancers.
I ain't never heard of Phillip T. Ragon, but, in this day and age, when we watch these Wall Street big-wigs pocket multi-million-dollar bonuses without giving a good goddamn to whom they hurting, Phillip T. Ragon is a hero.
I don't know how many people have told him, but Thank you, Mr. Ragon. Thank you.
The article is HERE.