Press Releases
Steptoe & Johnson donates $50,000 to Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute
December 21, 1999
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Steptoe and Johnson, a multi-practice law firm located in seven offices statewide, announced it will donate $50,000 to the newly-formed Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute.
The Institute, headquartered on the campus of West Virginia University, is a nonprofit multi-million dollar international medical research center focused on human memory and the development of new drugs and diagnostics to treat and diagnose neurological and cognitive disorders. It is the largest basic science research venture in West Virginia history, and the only major institute focusing on human memory in the world.
The Institute is named after Rockefeller’s mother, who after battling Alzheimer’s Disease for nearly a decade, succumbed to the disease in 1992.
"I am honored by Steptoe & Johnson’s commitment to an endeavor that is of great importance to me and my family," said Senator John D. Rockefeller IV. "The firm’s contribution of time, hard work and money have been intrical to the successful launching of the Institute."
The $80 million independent research center represents a partnership between West Virginia University and Johns Hopkins University. A team of the world’s most prominent researchers in neuroscience, led by 29-year National Institutes of Health veteran Dr. Daniel Alkon, will work in laboratories at West Virginia University in Morgantown and at Johns Hopkins University’s Montgomery County, Maryland campus.
"We are proud to join Senator Rockefeller, West Virginia University and Johns Hopkins in the battle against terrible and degrading neurological disorders," said Steptoe & Johnson Managing Partner Robert Steptoe. "We are confident that discoveries at the Institute will lead to a better quality of life for West Virginians and people around the world."
The Institute is expected to begin its research operations in early 2000.
"I have watched the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute evolve from merely an idea into an international, multi-million dollar center housing some of the world’s greatest scientific minds," said Ralph Bean, Partner at Steptoe & Johnson and a member of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute Board of Directors. "Our firm will continue to play an active role in the life of the Institute."
Steptoe & Johnson, one of West Virginia’s largest multi-practice law firms, has a long history of involvement and leadership in West Virginia’s growth. For over three quarters of a century, the firm has been a leader in the fields of banking, insurance, litigation, mineral and public utility law. Today, the firm continues to focus on these areas as well as international law, labor and employment law, workers’ compensation, and commercial, professional and product liability law.
Steptoe & Johnson is currently compromised of 125 attorneys located in seven offices statewide: Clarksburg, Charleston, Morgantown, Martinsburg, Wheeling, Parkersburg and Fairmont.