Quinnipiac University couple contributes $1 million to create the William and Barbara Weldon Chair in Rehabilitation Medicine

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Sep 10, 2013, 01:53 ET

HAMDEN, Conn., Sept. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A vice chairman of Quinnipiac University's Board of Trustees and his wife, both alumni of the university, have donated $1 million to endow a chair in Quinnipiac's new Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine.

The university has established the William and Barbara Weldon Chair in Rehabilitation Medicine. Quinnipiac will match the Weldons' gift, creating a $2 million fund in perpetuity.

"The William and Barbara Weldon Chair in Rehabilitation Medicine will provide the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine with outstanding leadership and ensure the immediate launch of an institute that will help address the rehabilitative needs of our veterans," said Bruce Koeppen, founding dean of the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine and vice president for health affairs.

William Weldon is the retired chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson. He and his wife, the former Barbara Dearborn, attended Quinnipiac together after graduating from Ridgewood High School in New Jersey.

Quinnipiac also announced that it will establish the Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine, which will build upon the university's strength in physical therapy and occupational therapy and utilize the state-of-the-art motion analysis laboratory located in the Center for Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences on the North Haven Campus.

The institute will be home to the Center for U.S. Veterans' Rehabilitation, which will focus on providing services to U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, including reintegration assistance, physical therapy and occupational therapy assistance, and educational guidance.

"Quinnipiac University played a big role in our lives and we want to make sure that it continues to grow, prosper and make a real difference," said Bill and Barbara Weldon. "Endowing a chair that will be held by the leader of a new institute dedicated to helping health care professionals and patients better understand rehabilitation medicine is the most significant way we can support our alma mater. In addition, initiating a center that will help U.S. veterans with much-needed services is absolutely essential as we strive to reintegrate and rehabilitate a generation of wounded warriors who have given so much to our nation."

Quinnipiac President John L. Lahey said, "Bill and Barbara continue to be extremely generous and active alumni. Bill's 40-plus years in health care with one of the world's most admired and innovative companies has been incredibly helpful during the process of opening a new medical school. Both Bill and Barbara have provided valuable advice and counsel and their generosity to establish a chair in rehabilitation medicine is truly sensational."

The medical schoolis named for Dr. Frank H. Netter, a world-renowned medical illustrator whose drawings and atlases have educated medical students for decades.

Quinnipiac is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours from Boston. The university enrolls 6,500 full-time undergraduate and 2,500 graduate students in 58 undergraduate and more than 20 graduate programs of study in its School of Business and Engineering, School of Communications, School of Education, School of Health Sciences, School of Law, Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, School of Nursing and College of Arts and Sciences. Quinnipiac consistently ranks among the top regional universities in the North in U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges issue. For more information, please visit www.quinnipiac.edu.