Vera Bradley pledges $10M to Simon Center

The Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer announced that it is pledging $10 million to the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center for breast cancer research.

Co-founders Patricia Miller and Barbara Baekgaard of the popular handbag manufacturer Vera Bradley started the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer in 1998 after the loss of a close friend to breast cancer.

Vera Bradley began raising funds in 1994 and since then has made endowments of $1.2 million in 1998, $2 million in 2003, $6.8 million in 2006 and now $10 million in 2009 to the IU Simon Cancer Center.

With the Vera Bradley Foundation’s first $1.2 million endowment, Linda Malkas was recruited to work with IU School of Medicine and was named the Vera Bradley Chair in Oncology. Malkas now co-directs the breast cancer program and works with a team of 34 members to eradicate breast cancer.

Malkas said that she credits the Vera Bradley Foundation with giving the breast cancer program the boost it needed to develop its very targeted research programs.

“IU is right at the cusp of the new paradigm of how we treat cancer,” Malkas said.

Malkas said that the most recent $10 million donation was given to the IU Simon
Cancer Center with the understanding that it would take the breast cancer center to a new level as far as developing very targeted clinical and research programs.

George Sledge, co-director of the IU Simon Cancer Center breast cancer program, also recognizes that the Vera Bradley Foundation’s donations have made breakthrough initiatives in research possible.

“Our long-term goal is that we will be able to use this as something that will kick-start a much larger effort,” Sledge said.

The IU Simon Cancer Center is located in Indianapolis and is a part of the IU School of Medicine.

In recognition of the foundation’s previous gifts, IU recently established the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer Research Laboratories, located in Joseph E. Walther Hall, the School of Medicine’s newest and largest research building.

Vera Bradley is based out of Fort Wayne and chose to give to the IU Simon Cancer Center not only because of its close location but also because the Vera Bradley board of directors felt it was one of the best facilities for breast cancer research, said
Melissa Schenkel, public relations representative for Vera Bradley.

The Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer continues to raise funding for endowments through the sale of breast cancer awareness handbag designs, donations and special events across the country, including a women’s amateur golf and tennis tournament.

The foundation’s donations to the IU Simon Cancer Center have aided in the development of new treatments for women with advanced stages of breast cancer, Schenkel said.

“The Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer’s ultimate goal is that we find a cure for breast cancer,” Schenkel said. “We hope that we can raise funds for another cause because breast cancer will no longer be an issue.”