Cummings Foundation (CFI) has announced a new partnership with Tufts University's School of Veterinary Medicine. In association with an historic $50 million financial commitment, Cummings Foundation will work closely with the prestigious graduate school over at least the next 15 years, according to CFI's executive director, Denis Cleary.

Shown above at the Medford, Massachusetts campus of Tufts University, are Lawrence S. Bacow, president of Tufts, William S. Cummings, president of Cummings Foundation and Dr. Philip C. Kosch, dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, on September 3, 2004.

The commitment to Tufts is, by far, the most significant financial action of CFI since its inception in 1986. CFI's chief benefactors are Bill and Joyce Cummings of Winchester, Massachusetts. Bill currently serves as the president of CFI, and both he and Joyce are active members of its board of trustees.

In addition to its new affiliation with Tufts, CFI owns and operates two large retirement communities, New Horizons at Choate, located at 21 Warren Avenue in Woburn, MA, and New Horizons at Marlborough, a much larger not-for-profit facility in Marlborough, MA. More than 400 seniors currently reside in the two modestly priced but highly regarded independent and assisted living facilities.

The School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University was founded 26 years ago, in partnership with the commonwealth of Massachusetts, to provide an opportunity for state residents to study veterinary medicine. Although Harvard University once had a veterinary school, Tufts is currently the only veterinary school in New England. Located on a beautiful country campus in Grafton, Massachusetts, Tufts is also one of only two veterinary schools in the United States established by a private university.

The School receives annual operating support from the commonwealth of Massachusetts, producing one of the most successful public/private higher education partnerships in the nation. Each year, one half of the seats in the class are reserved for Massachusetts residents, who also are able to take advantage of a discount in tuition. The School pursues alliances and partnerships with industry, other universities, government laboratories and non-governmental organizations to achieve a multi-disciplinary team approach to scientific inquiry.

Bill Cummings said that CFI was moved to support the University's affiliation proposal, primarily due to the strong entrepreneurial spirit of Tufts' senior administrators. "Every university needs resources to sustain its vision. This collaboration will support the vital capital needs of one of Tufts' most important schools." He also identified the steadily growing quality of Tufts' faculty and its outstanding reputation as important factors that were considered.

Additionally, Cummings said that veterinary medicine has become an increasingly important area of study within the scientific community, particularly in Massachusetts.  Largely due to the rapid expansion of the biotech industry, the need for veterinarians in the Commonwealth has grown at a disproportionately high rate when compared to other areas of the country.

According to Bill Cummings, "The single most important element of this commitment was the opportunity to make a defining difference in a world-class institution. The terrific work being done by Veterinary School teachers and researchers, and their commitment to academic excellence, will benefit people around the globe."

Cummings is more than casually familiar with the rapid growth of the biotech industry, particularly in Massachusetts. Cummings Properties, the real estate firm he founded in 1970 that currently serves more than 1700 business and professional clients in 10 area communities, reportedly leases a large percentage of its 8 million square feet of commercial space to biotechnology and medical research firms. The Woburn-based company has 260 full-time employees based in Woburn and Beverly, Massachusetts.

The Veterinary School is engaged in important research that bridges the gap between human and animal health. Since many of the world's emerging infectious diseases and most bioterrorist agents are animal or zoonotic diseases transmitted from animals to humans, Tufts' infectious disease research program is working to better understand and treat these serious threats to human health. Examples of these zoonotic diseases include the West Nile virus and rabies.

The School's Division of Infectious Diseases is recognized for research of infections associated with diseases of childhood and infections that threaten humans with compromised immunity as a result of malnutrition, HIV/AIDS or other factors. Such diseases include E.coli infections, salmonellosis and cryptosporidiosis.

The Division also has leading researchers investigating malaria, Lyme disease and tularemia. In 2004, the veterinary school was awarded a $25 million contract from the National Institute of Health to establish centers to study food and waterborne diseases and botulism therapies.

Nothing in the day-to-day operations at the 585-acre country campus is expected to change as a result of the new affiliation. Students, professors, administrators, and researchers alike will continue in all of their ordinary routines at the School, with no interruption of any sort.

The only significant change will be that of the veterinary school's name, which will be changed to the "Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University," in 2005. Tufts is among the many other colleges and universities across the country that have marked the importance of special financial contributions by naming schools after major benefactors.

Also as a part of the new affiliation, two CFI trustees and two senior-level Cummings Properties executives who do pro bono work for CFI have been appointed to the board of overseers of the Veterinary School. It is expected that these volunteers will help identify specific needs and opportunities for additional funding in future years. CFI will be in a more advantageous position to make large-scale grants when it converts from its present status as a private operating foundation to a more traditional grantmaking foundation in late 2010 or early 2011.

In commenting upon CFI's financial contribution, Tufts' President Lawrence S. Bacow stated, "Tufts is deeply grateful for this extraordinary vote of confidence. This is historic - by far the largest in our history. We shall invest these resources wisely to strengthen this great university."

The Cummings organization has a very strong connection to Tufts. Two CFI trustees received undergraduate degrees from Tufts, and another is a graduate of Tufts Medical School. Bill Cummings is also a Tufts trustee emeritus, but only President Bacow and Dean Kosch currently have any active role at Tufts. Cleary said that all votes authorizing both the financial commitment to Tufts and other future arrangements were completed in 2003, prior to Bacow or Veterinary School Dean Philip Kosch's joining CFI's board of trustees.

According to Cleary, CFI has made numerous grants to Tufts over many years. He said the most substantial earlier gift was the endowment of the Cummings Family Chair in Entrepreneurship and Business Economics. Tufts Professor George Norman was the first holder of that chair.