Lois Pope

Founder of Leaders In Furthering Education (LIFE) and The Lois Pope LIFE Foundation, Inc. Lois Pope has dedicated her career and time to helping others. Initiating programs to pay tribute to disabled American veterans and offering distinctive and enriching opportunities to children with special needs, Lois Pope has contributed millions of dollars and immeasurable efforts to philanthropy.

In 2000, Lois Pope established the Lois Pope LIFE Center, a research center dedicated to all neurological diseases (including spinal cord injuries), at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Four years earlier, she had set plans into motion with an announcement of a $10 million gift to the school to fund 20 LIFE Fellows for spinal cord research. That gift was the largest individual gift to spinal cord research at that time. Friends with actor Christopher Reeve, who was paralyzed in a horseback riding accident in 1995, Ms. Pope hopes the research conducted at the LIFE Center will advance treatment of spinal cord injuries.

Since its founding, the Lois Pope LIFE Center at the Miller School of Medicine has become the leading neurological research institution in the United States and abroad and is also home to the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. Under the direction of Dr. W. Dalton Dietrich, the 98,000-square-foot facility is equipped with the latest state-of-the-art technology, enabling scientists to research the causes of and treatments for various spinal cord injuries and neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and strokes, that impact millions of Americans.

To learn more about Lois Pope and her work with the LIFE Center at the University of Miami, please visit http://life-edu.org.