Leadership Circle Investing in innovation together
Leadership Circle is an opportunity for Phoenix Children’s supporters to invest in innovative, impactful projects that have the potential to transform pediatric medicine. Each Leadership Circle member makes a minimum annual donation of $1,000, and the gifts are pooled to form the Leadership Circle grant fund. Members convene each spring for a luncheon at which physicians, nurses, researchers and other innovators present their project proposals. Leadership Circle members vote to determine which projects to fund and how their funds will be prioritized.
Since 2004, Leadership Circle has awarded nearly $5.6 million in grant funding, including four grants totaling more than $523,000 in spring 2020.
Leadership Circle in action: Mohamed’s story
Eighteen-year-old Mohamed suffered a spinal cord injury eight years ago that caused him to lose function below the waist. When he began physical therapy in the Phoenix Children’s Hospital Rehabilitation Program a year and a half ago, he hadn’t stood in a long time.
Thanks to a piece of state-of-the-art technology purchased with Leadership Circle grant funding, today Mohamed not only can stand, but he also can walk. He is one of many Phoenix Children’s patients who have benefited from the Andago® gait training system since its purchase in 2019.
“It’s something that is life-changing for so many kids,” says Director of Rehabilitation Elizabeth Linos, MD. “When you are 8 years old and have a stroke, or you’re 10 years old and are in a motor vehicle accident and now are a paraplegic, when you have cancer and you’ve lost a limb, to be able to regain function and walk again, even if it’s adaptive, it really is life-changing.”
Your investment makes a difference
Leadership Circle funding is critical to fueling innovation at Phoenix Children’s—and as we navigate the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, innovation is more essential than ever. Faced with these unprecedented circumstances, we’re drawing on Phoenix Children’s tradition of innovation to find solutions that not only meet our current needs but also will shape the future of pediatric healthcare. Your investment in Leadership Circle will ensure that we can continue to fund innovative solutions in this rapidly evolving healthcare landscape.
Contact Leadership Circle
For information about becoming a member of Leadership Circle, please contact Dana Jirauch at leadershipcircle@phoenixchildrens.com.
2020–2021 CHAIRS
- Clarissa and Brian Robinson
- Charli Marrow and Jerry Schwalbach
DIRECTORS
- Julia and Taylor Burke
- Carol and Dr. Charles P. Dries, Jr.
- Jennifer and Rick Jewell
- Gail and Ed Ober
- DeeDee and Ken Vecchione