News
Reception at World War II Museum honors Foundation research grant winners and late Alpha John Kushner
More than 100 researchers, Alphas, family and friends gathered at a reception held in conjunction with the annual conference of the American Thoracic Society in New Orleans, to congratulate the winners of the Alpha-1 Foundation’s 2010 research grant awards and to pay tribute to John E. Kushner.
RESEARCH GRANT WINNERS—Adam Wanner, MD, Foundation Scientific Director, third from right, presents research awards to, from left: Kamal Akhtar, PhD, Washington University School of Medicine; Angelia Lockett, PhD, Indiana University; Bernard Fischer, DVM, PhD, Duke University Medical Center; Tony Eissa, MD, Baylor College of Medicine; and Irina Petrache, MD, Indiana University. Foundation President & CEO John Walsh is at right.
The reception took place at The National World War II Museum (formally known as the D-day Museum), a landmark museum that Kushner played a key role in creating. A jazz band provided live music and the “Victory Belles” performed a nostalgic journey through World War II-era musical classics.
Kushner was a commercial real estate developer in New Orleans who died of Alpha-1-related liver disease in 2005.
KUSHNER HONORED—Gathering to honor the late John Kushner at the World War II Museum are, from left: Rick and Debbie Douglas; John Walsh; Lori Kushner Bush, daughter of John and Barbarara Kushner; and Lori’s husband Victor Bush.
Kushner was deeply involved in the development of the World War II Museum. It was a project dear to his heart, said Barbara Kushner, his widow, in a 2007 magazine interview. “Ever since he was a young boy, my husband had a passion for history. World War II was his particular favorite subject.”
Following his death after many years of misdiagnosis, the family “decided to try to do something so that no other families would have to go through this needless horror.”
The John E. Kushner Family Fund was established to support research, education and awareness for Alpha-1. His family established a lasting memorial by creating a fund to raise money, in his name, to build awareness of Alpha-1 among the medical community and the public.
The Victory Belles entertain with World War II-era popular songs.
