Giving Stories - Bud and Sandy Leister

“We’re now at the age where philanthropy becomes much more important,” Bud Leister said, referring to him and his wife Sandy. Then again, giving back has always been a core part of their lives. Bud has served on numerous boards and committees at Carle Foundation Hospital over the past 30 years, including as chairman of the board of The Carle Foundation. Additionally, he’s been active in two successful multimillion-dollar campaigns as a board member of Carle Health Center for Philanthropy. Sandy, meanwhile, is a licensed clinical psychologist and longtime member of our Women’s Legacy Circle.

While they’ve also given personally over the years, their gifts never had a central focus until they met Blair Rowitz, MD. As associate chief medical officer for Specialty Institutes, Surgical Services and Graduate Medical Education at Carle Foundation Hospital, Dr. Rowitz introduced the Leisters to Discovery Pathway, a new program designed to encourage Carle Illinois College of Medicine graduates to pursue their residencies at Carle. And they were immediately on board to focus their financial support on this important mission.

“It fills a significant goal for us,” Bud said. “Sandy got her master’s and PhD at Illinois, and I had many years at Carle on various boards, so it seemed like a great place to step up and make a contribution.” Sandy agreed. “It met and combined a lot of our values in terms of supporting the community, supporting the university and supporting Carle.”

As the world’s first engineering-based college of medicine, Carle Illinois has never had any problem attracting students. “A number of them come to us with patents,” said Katie Schroeder, provider career liaison, highlighting the amazing caliber of the students the college receives. The problem is that those students quickly graduate, moving on to other medical programs across the country – taking their talents and innovations with them.

“One of the things we want to accomplish with Carle Illinois is to recruit and retain students to come back and work in our communities,” Dr. Rowitz said. And now, the Leisters are helping make that possible. Their generous gift established the Carle Illinois College of Medicine Discovery Year Fund at Carle Health Center for Philanthropy, supporting a one-of-a-kind program designed to attract young innovators.

The fund assists Carle Illinois graduates entering the Discovery Pathway Program at Carle. This unique program allows residents to customize their professional development by pursuing research, taking externships or continuing their entrepreneurial development. While the program is open to all graduate medical education students, the Leisters hope that targeting their gift to Carle Illinois students will encourage graduates from this exceptional program to remain in the local community, where they’ll make significant contributions to research and healthcare for many years to come. That desire is reflected in the grant’s design, which awards priority to proposals that enhance patient care at Carle, whether it’s through improving outcomes, lowering costs or opening greater access to healthcare.

The fund’s impact on patient care will be immediate, but it will also shape the future. According to Schroeder, Carle Illinois students have already played an important role in medical innovation right here in our community, supporting the Carle physicians and university professors who developed the COVID-19 saliva test that was essential in reopening schools. Future innovators could go even further, launching startups that bring new technology and investment to the local economy. “Programs like these,” Schroeder said, “foster the kind of learning, innovation and ideas that will be the future of healthcare.”

Note: The original version of this article was published in the Carle Health Center for Philanthropy Inside Giving Newsletter (June 2023 edition) here.