RICHARDSON, Texas (April 3, 2006) — The Center for BrainHealth® at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) will hold its first annual “Legacy Award” dinner — an event designed to recognize those with the “vision and generosity” to support research about brain health — on April 26. The first honoree, Dianne Cash, will be lauded for her contribution that helped fund the center’s new building, located on Mockingbird Lane in Dallas.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and scientific expert on aging Dr. Robert Butler will be the keynote speaker at the dinner, which will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Dallas Country Club.

Cash found assistance at the center for her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, and responded with support of the center and its mission by committing $5 million in 2003 to be used toward a new building. The 63,000 square-foot facility, expected to open in September, will be named the Frances and Mildred Goad Building in honor of Cash’s mother and grandmother.

“Dianne Cash is a pioneer in helping people understand that brain health is one of the most important causes in the country — one that in some way will touch every individual,” said Debbie Francis, the center’s advisory board chairman. 

Butler is chief executive officer and founder of the International Longevity Center in New York. He is the 1976 Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the book Why Survive: Being Old in America. He also was a founding director of the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health. Butler’s advocacy has helped revolutionize the way the American healthcare system views aging, and he currently is at work on a book titled The Longevity Revolution.

The title of Butler’s speech is “Why Life Now Begins at 60.”

The center also will receive a boost from Cash’s friends, who will show their appreciation and support by attending the event.

“A stellar group is serving as honorary co-chairs for the event and the host committee,” said Joe McIntosh, development director for the center. “And they are all dear friends of Dianne.”

The group is made up of some of Dallas’ leading citizens, including Kelli and Gerald Ford, Peggy and Leonard Riggs, Beverly and Robert Nichols, Pedie and George Bramblett, Ashley and Mack Rankin and Peggy and Carl Sewell. Nancy Cheney, Billie Leigh Rippey and Carol Seay are the event co-chairs.

A limited number of individual dinner seats are available, starting at $250. Other tickets and sponsorship levels also are available. For additional information, contact Joe McIntosh at (214) 905-3007.

About the Center for BrainHealth

The Center for BrainHealth has a unique mission:  to unite brain research and brain therapies in an active partnership to build healthy minds and restore health to injured and diseased minds.  No other institution in America has undertaken this dual mission.  The center, a scientific institute of The University of Texas at Dallas, is dedicated to understanding the brain’s ability to restore or protect healthy function, protect the brain through preventive measures for people of all ages, and healing the brain through treatments that regenerate brain function.  Brain disease or trauma can strike anyone at any age, but exciting scientific discoveries are changing the past belief that the brain cannot be healed.  For more information about the Center for BrainHealth and its work, please visit the organization’s website www.centerforbrainhealth.org.

About UTD

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls nearly 14,500 students.  The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores.  The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs.  For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s website at www.utdallas.edu.