Donation will fund autism center

One family’s contribution to the For All We Call Mizzou campaign will offer new hope to families and children dealing with autism.

William Thompson, co-chairman of the campaign steering committee, and his wife Nancy donated $8.5 million to fund the Thompson Family Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, MU Chancellor Brady Deaton announced Friday. Deaton said the new center will conduct autism research and provide service and teaching.

“The federal government has declared autism a pressing public health problem,” said Stephen Jorgensen, dean of the College of Human Environmental Sciences. Jorgensen and faculty members from the MU schools of Health Related Professions and Medicine have worked for more than two years on a concept for the center.

The center will be led by Judith Miles and Janet Farmer, two of MU’s top autism researchers. The center will bring together existing campus efforts in autism research and treatment.

Thompson said his daughter’s involvement in working with children with autism and his nephew, who has Down syndrome, influenced the decision to fund the new center.

“We feel strongly that success should be measured one child at a time,” Thompson said.

The Thompsons’ gift will also establish two Thompson endowed chairs in the School of Medicine, one in the Department of Child Health and the other in the Department of Radiology, where researchers will use neuro-imaging to understand the effects of autism on brain development. The gift will also provide five scholarships to aid autism research efforts.

The $8.5 million donation will bring the For All We Call Mizzou campaign to $556 million, one step closer to achieving its overall goal of $600 million. The campaign, which began in July 1999, is scheduled to end in December.