John P. McGovern, MD, Makes Major Gift to National Health Museum; Joins American Medical Association as Newest $1 Million Benefactor

Formal Alliance to be Established Between Washington, DC & Houston Institutions

John P. McGovern, MD, a nationally noted physician, author and humanitarian, has made a second major contribution toward development of the new National Health Museum in Washington, DC. The gift of $750,000, combined with previous donations of $250,000, raises to $1 million the total contribution to the project by The John P. McGovern Foundation. This commitment has earned Dr. McGovern the distinction of Founding Benefactor, a recognition he shares with the National Health Museum’s other $1 million supporter, the American Medical Association.

“There are few Americans as devoted to the health and wellbeing of their fellow citizens as Dr. John McGovern,” said National Health Museum Chairman Louis W. Sullivan, MD. “In countless institutions of learning and medicine in Houston, across the nation and around the globe, his generous support is helping build a better, healthier world. Now, with this extraordinary gift to the National Health Museum, he is helping bring the vision for this future landmark in our nation’s capital one step closer to reality.”

The gift was announced at an October 7 luncheon in Washington, DC hosted by US Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson and attended by an array of health community leaders from the philanthropic, corporate, and governmental sectors. In addition to Dr. McGovern’s gift, the event included an announcement by Secretary Thompson of a $1 million grant to the National Health Museum as part of a new public-private partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services.

AMA President Donald Palmisano, MD, who spoke at the event, joined in recognizing Dr. McGovern’s contribution. “The AMA is delighted to share the honor of National Health Museum Benefactor with John McGovern, an exemplary physician who embodies the ideals of service that represent the best of American medicine. We look forward to working with him to see the great potential of this institution realized.”

The gift will be used to support development of plans and acquisition of a prominent site for the National Health Museum’s future facility in Washington, DC. Additionally, a formal alliance will be established between the National Health Museum and the John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science in Houston in which leaders of both museums will identify and pursue opportunities to work together toward common institutional goals.

“For the past several years, the National Health Museum has been fortunate to enjoy a meaningful friendship with the McGovern Museum, a highly regarded institution with which we share a mission of good health,” said Dr. Sullivan. “This new alliance between the National Health Museum and the McGovern Museum will simply formalize the spirit of good will that already exists between our two institutions. We look forward to sharing ideas and intellectual capital and searching for new opportunities to collaborate in support of our mutual goals.”

For more information about the National Health Museum, please visit www.nationalhealthmuseum.org. For more information about the John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science, please visit www.museumofhealth.org.