Letter from the dean

This story was published in the spring 2025 issue of 12th & Marshall. You can find the current and past issues online.

When we welcomed more than 450 alumni and guests to the MCV Campus in April for Alumni Reunion, I wanted to leave them with one clear message.

We are a school that wants to do well while doing good. I gave them an example of that.

Before I became dean of the School of Medicine, I heard much about the new Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health. Funded by the largest donation ever recorded at VCU, R. Todd Stravitz, M.D., F’92, had a mission to transform research in hepatology.

Soon after I arrived, I met Dr. Stravitz and Niles Eggleston, who leads the Medical Philanthropy and Alumni Relations office. Little did I know how deeply touched I would be by their personal motivations — their love of mankind — which led to this groundbreaking center that has created an environment for all of us to be successful and hopeful for the future.

People give for many different reasons. A physician and scientist, Dr. Stravitz wanted to create a center that would be defined by his love of hepatology and share his vision for what metabolic health might be.

When it comes to securing philanthropic gifts like this, I was admittedly curious and maybe even a bit skeptical why people enter this line of work. I assumed that Mr. Eggleston and his colleagues were simply doing a job.

I could not have been more wrong.

Niles’ true motivation soon became apparent — softly spoken, but tectonically heard: He had been a living liver donor to his sister, Sarah. She lived several more years as a result of his gift and was able to savor some more of the wonderful parts of life that all of us so commonly take for granted.

The story of my unassuming mission-driven colleague revealed a simple truth: People are good. Our alumni donors give because they are good. Your philanthropy accomplishes good. And our doctors, nurses, students and staff benefit from these gifts, which are essential to delivering the best, most humane level of care.

Many of our alumni and patients, along with friends in the Richmond community, have similar stories and reasons for giving back. Their work honors those they love and testifies to their own deeply personal experiences.

Thank you for the generosity, sacrifices and talents that transform our work, and for your trust in your medical school to advance a better world — fueled by good.

With gratitude,

Art Saavedra, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A.
Dean, VCU School of Medicine
Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, VCU Health System