University of Maryland Medical System Foundation

University of Maryland Medical System Foundation

The University of Maryland Medical System Foundation operates as the primary philanthropic arm of the University of Maryland Medical Center, structuring its work around major capital campaigns and targeted disease-specific initiatives. The Foundation channels private donations into hospital infrastructure, endowed chairs, and patient care programs across the medical center's downtown Baltimore campus. Its signature "Building for Life" campaign, chaired by former University System of Maryland Chancellor William "Brit" Kirwan, reflects a long-running effort to modernize the physical plant of one of the nation's oldest teaching hospitals. The Foundation works alongside the medical center's president and CEO, Bert W. O'Malley MD, to align donor priorities with clinical strategy. The Foundation's asset base supports a spending policy that underwrites hospital operations, research accelerators, and specialized treatment centers. A notable beneficiary is the Stoler Center for Advanced Medicine, anchored by a major gift from Roslyn and Leonard Stoler, which consolidates outpatient cancer care, imaging, and specialty clinics in a single facility. Complementary funding streams flow from long-standing Baltimore philanthropic partners including the Abell Foundation, which co-invests in community health initiatives. The Foundation's geographic focus concentrates on the Baltimore-Washington corridor, reflecting UMMS's role as the region's safety-net hospital and tertiary referral destination. The Foundation maintains a lean governance structure under Gossett, a serial donor and trustee whose influence extends to the University of Maryland College Park Foundation. Its endowment fund, held within the Foundation's Baltimore headquarters, supports an institution that was the birthplace of shock trauma care — the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center — and remains one of the busiest organ transplant centers in the United States. March 2022: The Foundation and medical center announced the completion of the Roslyn and Leonard Stoler Pavilion, capping a multi-year effort to bring comprehensive ambulatory oncology services under one roof on the downtown campus. What distinguishes the Foundation structurally is its tight coupling to a single, urban academic medical center rather than operating as a university-wide development office. While most university foundations spread capital across multiple schools and departments, this Foundation concentrates resources exclusively on the medical center's clinical and research priorities. That focused mandate creates an unusually direct line between a major donor's check and a specific MRI suite, research lab, or patient tower — a structural feature that shapes both its fundraising pitch and its capital allocation logic.