UTMB Public Affairs

Galveston civic leaders pledge to establish distinguished professorship, chair in health care ethics

Contribution will support university’s comprehensive campaign

GALVESTON, Texas — Galveston community leaders Harris L. “Shrub” Kempner Jr. and his wife, Hetta T. “Peaches” Kempner, recently pledged to establish a new distinguished professorship and also a chair dedicated to ethical issues in health care at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

Dr. Barbara E. Breier, director of UTMB’s Program to Eliminate Health Disparities, has been nominated to be the first recipient of the Peaches and Shrub Kempner Distinguished Professorship in Health Disparities. Breier is working on a comprehensive plan that will improve medically underserved groups’ access to health care and lower the cost of providing care to these patients.

“I’m deeply honored to be considered for this prestigious endowment,” said Breier, an adjunct member of the university’s Institute for the Medical Humanities and associate professor of nursing. “Peaches’ and Shrub’s generous support will greatly aid investigations aimed at developing better health care access for the medically underserved.”

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the number of uninsured people increased to 41.2 million from 39.8 million between 2000 and 2001. Approximately 14.6 percent of the population had no health insurance in 2001. Based on a two-year average between 2000 and 2001, Texas ranks first among states with the highest percentage of uninsured residents (23.2 percent).

The Kempners will also establish the Harris L. Kempner Chair in the Humanities in Medicine by increasing the endowment value of the Harris L. Kempner Distinguished Professorship in the Humanities in Medicine. Originally established as a professorship in 1972 by the Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund, a Galveston foundation, the endowment grew to a distinguished professorship with additional gifts from the Kempner family. It is currently held by Dr. Ronald A. Carson, director of the Institute for the Medical Humanities since 1982.

Medical humanities faculty explore health care public policy, ethics and the impact of spirituality, history, philosophy, literature, and the performing and visual arts on the capacity to heal. The program is one of only a handful of such institutes nationwide affiliated with an academic health center and the only one that confers a multidisciplinary Ph.D. in the medical humanities.

Carson said the distinguished professorship and chair will help ensure that the 31-year-old institute remains a vibrant center for examining the ethical issues surrounding medicine. “Peaches, Shrub and the rest of the Kempner family have maintained a long and dedicated interest in the medical humanities,” Carson said. “Thanks to this substantial gift from Peaches and Shrub, the institute’s national reputation will continue to grow, enabling us to attract top-notch faculty.”

The Kempners’ pledge is one of the leading commitments to UTMB’s Timeless Values, Pioneering Solutions campaign, a five-year, $250 million fund-raising initiative launched in September 2003. Key components of the campaign include teaching the art and science of health care; infectious diseases, biodefense and vaccine development; improved health care access and telehealth; and longevity, chronic diseases and neurological recovery.

Staunch supporters of UTMB, Peaches and Shrub Kempner have contributed to such university programs and initiatives as the Fannie Kempner Adoue Distinguished Professorship in Cognitive Rehabilitation, Breast Imaging Campaign and School of Nursing Student Support Fund.

The Kempners are equally generous with their time and talent. They actively promote UTMB’s interests as members of the university’s President’s Cabinet, an organization that secures financial resources to help advance the mission of the institution. Members include Houston-Galveston area community and business leaders, UTMB faculty and staff, and alumni from across Texas and beyond. Peaches Kempner has served UTMB in various capacities and currently serves as a member of the School of Allied Health Sciences Advisory Council. The council comprises citizens dedicated to developing and supporting the school’s programs and increasing its visibility in the state. Shrub Kempner has twice been chair and is a current member of the university’s Development Board, whose members help create fund-raising strategies and act as UTMB’s “ambassadors,” assisting in outreach efforts to alumni, patients and other supporters. Kempner also serves as co-vice-chair of the Timeless Values, Pioneering Solutions Campaign Steering Committee. He chaired another university fund-raising initiative, the Centennial Campaign, in the early 1990s.

The president of Kempner Capital Management Inc., an investment advisory firm, Shrub Kempner is chairman emeritus of the board of Frost Bank-Galveston and a trustee of the H. Kempner Trust Association. He is a national officer of the American Jewish Committee and a board member of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous. He is a director and past president of the Galveston Historical Foundation and founding member and past president of the Galveston Economic Development Corp. Mr. Kempner was also a member of the Board of Visitors for Texas A&M University at Galveston.

Peaches Kempner is involved in numerous Galveston charitable, civic and humanities-related projects. She is a founding member and past president of the Galveston Arts Center. She is also a life member on the boards of Galveston’s Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund and of the Resource and Crisis Center of Galveston County, a countywide shelter and crisis center for domestic violence survivors and their children. As co-founder of the UTMB Blood Donor Program, Mrs. Kempner garnered the Jefferson Award from the American Association of Blood Donors. The blood donor program also received the association’s National Award of Merit.

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