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Legacy Gift : Research

A gift in your Will to medical research

Gifts in Wills help to fund research seeking to overcome some of the major health problems of our time, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis.

We understand that the causes closest to your heart are often personal, which is why you can choose to fund the area of research which means the most to you. And as the Queen's Foundation is a registered charity, 100% of your gift will go directly to your chosen cause.

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Male student working in lab
Team of researchers and legator's family outside the Cancer Centre
Tom Simms' cancer research trials
One in two of us will suffer from cancer in our lifetime.

So it was remarkable when local businessman Tom Simms left a legacy gift of £2 million to Queen’s to be used for cancer research trials. Tom wasn’t a graduate of the University but he was a patient of the Cancer Centre at Belfast City Hospital and his gift has offered hope to thousands of individuals with cancer.

Based at the Patrick G. Johnson Centre for Cancer Research at Queen’s, The Tom Simms Research Team is working on research and treatments including personalised therapies, genetic links, inhibitors and biomarkers. All of these offer more targeted individual treatments, a higher cure rate, longer life expectancy and a better quality of life. The group is also behind the trial of the first ever anti-cancer drug developed entirely in Northern Ireland.

Supporting Mutliple Sclerosis

Queen’s academic, Dr Denise Fitzgerald, and her team, are undertaking innovative research into how parts of the immune system can help repair the damage to the central nervous system caused by MS attacks. This research offers a beacon of hope to thousands of people with MS, including Caroline Jamison from Carrickfergus.

“My mother was diagnosed with MS at 33. Six years after her death, I was also diagnosed. It was then I discovered the ground-breaking research Denise and her team are carrying out. It gave my dad and I hope that a cure will be found.

The following year my dad passed and left me his beautiful collection of vintage motorbikes he had lovingly restored during his lifetime. I use the bikes to help fundraise for the MS research team at Queen’s. I am proud to be associated with the team – helping, in my own way, to ensure research continues until a treatment is found that will benefit MS sufferers worldwide."

Caroline Jamison pictured with Prof Denise Fitzgerald holding a photo of her mum and dad
Get in contact

If you have any questions about leaving a gift in your Will to Queen's, or how your gift can help, please contact our Legacy Manager at l.carey@qub.ac.uk 
or on +44 (0) 7727 234 282.