July 26, 2021 – A $5 million gift from the Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation has set the stage for the UF College of Medicine to build a comprehensive brain imaging facility at the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases to explore the brain as never before.

The new laboratory space will enhance vital clinical research in both dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease dementia.

The Fort Lauderdale-based Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation, which targets its support to the areas of education, medical research and environmental causes, has been a strong ally of the UF Department of Neurology in efforts to expand research into Lewy body dementia and improve care for persons with the disease and their families.

The foundation was established in 1999 by Harry Mangurian and his wife, Dorothy, who were originally from Rochester, New York, before relocating to Fort Lauderdale. Harry Mangurian was a businessman involved in a variety of industries, including a jet charter company, home construction, sports team ownership and thoroughbred racing. He owned the Boston Celtics from 1978 to 1983 and operated one of North America’s leading thoroughbred breeding and racing operations located in Ocala, Florida.

“Mr. and Mrs. Mangurian were a dynamic couple, and he was a great individual to work with,” said Stephen Mehallis, president of the Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation. “This foundation is a wonderful symbol and a continuing legacy for their lives.”

Dorothy, nicknamed Dottie, was diagnosed in 2001 with dementia with Lewy bodies and lived for many years with the disease, and Harry was her caretaker before he died in 2008 from cancer. Dorothy died in 2015.

“Dottie was the impetus for the foundation’s involvement in the areas of neurology and neuroscience,” Mehallis said. “Harry did a lot of research on his own into the disease and decided he wanted to support medical research that is directly involved with Lewy body.”

The foundation’s original gift of $1 million to the department of neurology in 2014 established the Dorothy Mangurian Clinical-Research Headquarters for Lewy Body Dementia and led to the recruitment of Melissa Armstrong, M.D., MSc, a national leader in Lewy body clinical care and research. Within two years, the program had garnered national recognition as a Lewy Body Dementia Association Research Center of Excellence, and has maintained that distinction.

Under Armstrong’s leadership and with help from the Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation and other private organizations, the clinical program has grown significantly, including the addition of two Lewy body dementia specialists to the team. The scope of the research activity has also expanded, with ongoing Lewy body dementia projects that cover the spectrum of medical research — from basic neuroscience in the lab to translational research, such as the development of vaccines and other neruoimmunological approaches. The gift has also helped advance clinical studies investigating the progression of Lewy body dementia and how to improve care.

“Our ultimate goal is to continue to improve the care for people living with Lewy body dementia and to advance research into the causes and complications of the disease,” said Armstrong, director of the Mangurian Clinical-Research Headquarters for Lewy Body Dementia. “It is estimated that one in three people with dementia with Lewy bodies never gets diagnosed and the other two often take years to get a correct diagnosis. We want to help people get that diagnosis faster, so they can receive the highest quality of care and receive that care through a truly interdisciplinary approach.”

Armstrong explained that dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a decline in a person’s memory that is severe enough to affect day-to-day life. Lewy body dementia is the second-most common degenerative dementia behind Alzheimer’s, and it comprises two diseases: dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease dementia.

In September, Armstrong earned a five-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging to expand her research into factors that predict approaching end of life in dementia with Lewy bodies and affect quality end-of-life experiences for patients and families.

Mehallis said the work taking place at UF’s Dorothy Mangurian Clinical-Research Headquarters for Lewy Body Dementia aligns well with the foundation’s mission.

“There are a couple of key ways to attack a disease,” he said. “One is to raise awareness to get people to care about it. The other is to allocate dollars for specific research and education. What Dr. Armstrong and the department of neurology are achieving at the headquarters is a perfect fit with our goals.”

While the Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation supports other Lewy body programs across the country, its leadership is pleased with the relationship they’ve established with the physicians and scientists at UF Health. For that reason, they agreed to support the new brain imaging facility planned for the Fixel Institute, under the direction of Michael Okun, M.D., executive director of the Fixel Institute and chair of the department of neurology at the UF College of Medicine.

“Dr. Okun’s dedication and commitment to establishing the brain imaging program was so evident and contagious,” Mehallis said. “It was almost like he was recruiting a quarterback for the Gators.”

The new 15,000-square-foot laboratory space will enhance clinical research in Lewy body dementia, Okun said.

“There is a critical need for imaging capacity for both clinical patients and research patients,” Okun said. “We have important biomarker studies that will utilize imaging, and these studies are tracking the course of the disease, improving diagnosis and will ultimately help determine the effectiveness of future treatments.”

The Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation gift will be matched with university and private matching funds to add a magnetoencephalography, or MEG, scanner, which is used to map brain activity by recording magnetic fields produced by electrical currents.

Mehallis said he is happy with what the Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation has been able to accomplish over the last two decades, and he is proud of the relationships that have been developed.

“When we look on the broad scale of our involvement across the country, I think we are helping to move the needle,” he said. “We’re proud and happy about that.”