Former SEAL Team Six commander donates $1 million to UT Southwestern

Newswise — DALLAS – Nov. 18, 2024 – Retired Navy Adm. William McRaven, former commander of U.S. Special Operations who oversaw the SEAL Team Six raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, has donated $1 million to UT Southwestern Medical Center to support its research program focused on Gulf War Illness (GWI), as well as mental health programs for veterans.

The gift is part of Adm. McRaven’s ongoing efforts to champion veterans’ issues and comes in the wake of his receiving the Bezos Courage & Civility Award, a $50 million prize from Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez.

“UT Southwestern has always been at the forefront of helping our veterans and active-duty service members,” said Adm. McRaven, a 1977 graduate of the University of Texas who served as UT System Chancellor from 2015 to 2018. “Our hope through this gift is that a new dawn will rise for the 175,000 service members diagnosed with GWI who have been struggling for want of effective treatments.”

For 30 years, Robert Haley, M.D., Professor of Internal Medicine and Public Health, has been investigating Gulf War Illness. His team’s research has proved that the nerve gas sarin was largely responsible for the syndrome, which has sickened tens of thousands of men and women who served in the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War. Symptoms include persistent headaches, memory loss, fatigue, insomnia, and other debilitating issues.

“We are indebted to Adm. McRaven as a champion for those who suffered personally as a consequence of their service to our nation and for his determination to see that they get the answers and support that they deserve,” said Daniel K. Podolsky, M.D., President of UT Southwestern. “The gift is especially salient at this time of year when we have the opportunity to remember the brave men and women who have served our country.”

Dr. Haley’s research identified a genetic predisposition that explains why some veterans developed symptoms while others did not. Troops with certain genetic markers that helped metabolize sarin were less likely to suffer from Gulf War Illness, while those without them were more vulnerable. Further work by the team uncovered the key to possible treatment for the disease – a molecular pathway that can be targeted with existing drugs. Adm. McRaven’s gift will enable crucial clinical studies of the first therapeutics with the potential to treat the root cause of GWI and reverse it.

“We had to understand biochemistry and the physiology of a disease nobody had ever seen before,” Dr. Haley said. “Gene expression studies recently gave us what we need to develop a treatment, to test it rationally and scientifically, and that’s where this timely funding will go. This funding is going to carry us across the finish line much sooner.”

Earlier this year, Adm. McRaven was selected, along with actress Eva Longoria, to receive the Bezos Courage & Civility Award, underwritten by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez. Given to “leaders who aim high and pursue solutions with courage and civility,” the award comes with a $50 million prize that they can donate to organizations of their choosing. Adm. McRaven chose to donate funds to support Dr. Haley’s research and directed a second gift to UT Southwestern to support mental health services to veterans.

Dr. Haley said that his research is on the cusp of finding new treatments and that existing FDA-approved anti-inflammatory drugs show promise for veterans like Col. Bill Davis, a highly decorated combat commander, master parachutist, and special-forces qualified Army Ranger. After his return home, he faced a long-term disability with complex and debilitating symptoms. Despite the challenges, he established the Col. Bill Davis Fund for Research on Gulf War Illness at UT Southwestern to advance medical research for fellow veterans.

“Back in the formative days of the research program, the various protocols at UT Southwestern and Dr. Haley’s great multi-mission team gave me insight and the beginnings of an explanation of what was going on with me,” Col. Davis said. “I never thought I’d say this, but it was a relief to understand just how bad things were with me and, most importantly, to get insight into why. After the Gulf War, I tried to blow off these symptoms because they couldn’t be explained. UT Southwestern changed that.”

Dr. Haley holds the U.S. Armed Forces Veterans Distinguished Chair for Medical Research, Honoring Robert Haley, M.D., and America’s Gulf War Veterans.

Dr. Podolsky holds the Philip O’Bryan Montgomery, Jr., M.D. Distinguished Presidential Chair in Academic Administration, and the Charles Cameron Sprague Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science.

About UT Southwestern Medical Center   

UT Southwestern, one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty members have received six Nobel Prizes and include 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 24 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 3,200 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in more than 80 specialties to more than 120,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 5 million outpatient visits a year.