Eastern Star donations to OMRF top $175,000

OKLAHOMA CITY, October 20, 2009 – The Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star presented the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation with a donation of $14,000 at its annual statewide banquet Sunday at the Biltmore Hotel. The gift brings the Eastern Star’s overall donations to more than $175,000 since OMRF became the group’s statewide charitable beneficiary in 2002.

“We appreciate long-standing partners like the Eastern Star,” said OMRF director of development Laura Lang, who accepted the check at the Grand Chapter Convention in Oklahoma City. “Eastern Star gifts provide much-needed support to our scientists in their fight against human disease.”

In the past, Eastern Star donations have funded research at OMRF on neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s. Research at OMRF is exploring the genetics roots of Alzheimer's as well as novel interventional strategies like vaccination. An experimental Alzheimer's drug based on OMRF research has completed phase one clinical trials, offering hope against a disease that affects 4.5 million Americans.

Eastern Star donations have also benefited OMRF’s research on multiple sclerosis and cancer.

The Order of the Eastern Star is the largest fraternal organization in the world to which both men and women may belong. It counts approximately one million members worldwide, including 20,000 Oklahomans, and is dedicated to furthering charity, education, science and fraternity.

Chartered in 1946, OMRF is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institute dedicated to understanding and developing more effective treatments for human diseases. Its scientists focus on such critical research areas as Alzheimer’s, cancer, lupus and cardiovascular disease.

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