AP – Dolly Parton is donating USD1 million to paediatric infectious disease research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, the organisation announced recently.
The new gift is one of several Parton has made to the centre over the years, including a USD1 million gift in April 2020 for COVID vaccine research. That gift helped Vanderbilt researchers test an array of drugs aimed at reducing the life-threatening symptoms associated with COVID-19, the center said in a news release. Researchers are also looking at entirely new therapies to both treat COVID-19 and prevent infection.
Parton’s new gift will support a variety of ongoing research at the medical centre, including understanding how viruses and bacteria cause disease, understanding and preventing antibiotic resistance, preventing and treating infections, diagnosing and treating infections in children with cancer, and gauging the impact of childhood infections throughout the world, according to the news release.
Parton said she supports the work because she loves children.