Eva and Les Erdi – Thank you!

29 October 2009

Australian philanthropists, Eva and Les Erdi received heartfelt thanks at a reception held to honour their generosity to Monash University.

Long-time friends of Monash, Eva and Les Erdi have most recently supported two significant initiatives – the Eva and Les Erdi Zebrafish Research Group and the Eva and Les Erdi AUSiMED Fellowship in Neurological Diseases.

Professor Ed Byrne, Monash Vice-Chancellor, said at the celebratory event: “It’s wonderful to be here today to talk about the power of philanthropy, and the impact of the inspirational generosity of Eva and Les Erdi.”

Unleashing the potential of young people

The Eva and Les Erdi Zebrafish Research Group will work with Monash’s Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute under the guidance of Deputy Director, Professor Peter Currie. The new research group will use zebrafish as their model and work to make discoveries about ways to help the human body repair, replace, restore or regenerate damaged tissues and organs.

“Thanks to your gift, Eva and Les, the Institute will be able to recruit an outstanding young scientist to lead a group of talented researchers,” said Professor Byrne. “The group will be able to focus their efforts and energies on learning, developing and finding new ways to improve human health.”

The Eva and Les Erdi AUSiMED Fellowship in Neurological Diseases will see a gifted Israeli scientist work closely with Professor Claude Bernard from Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories and Professor Tamir Ben Hur from the Hadassah University Medical Center. They will work collaboratively on MS and other neurological conditions such as stroke, brain trauma, spinal cord injury and Alzheimer’s.

Monash University has a strong and growing association with AUSiMED – Hadassah Australia’s Australia-Israel Medical Research Initiative. This initiative builds collaborations between clinicians and researchers in Australia and Israel.

“On behalf of Hadassah Australia and Hadassah Medical Center, we thank Eva and Les Erdi for their generous support of the Eva and Les Erdi AUSiMED Fellowship in Neurological Diseases. We are very excited to see such a valuable collaboration underway,” said Dr Elane Zelcer, CEO and National Convenor of AUSiMED.

Hadassah Australia supports and represents Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem. It is a not-for-profit organisation and one of its key initiatives is the AUSiMED program.

A long history of giving world-wide

The Erdis have generously given to Monash for many years, enabling much research and teaching to impact the way we live today. Their reach is felt world-wide. They have also been philanthropic supporters in the wider community showing incredible support for the arts, education, medical research and our communities on a world-wide scale.