10:17am | For the past eleven years, Rick and Susan Sontag of The Sontag Foundation have partnered with the Long Beach-based national nonprofit organization, the Arthritis National Research Foundation (ANRF), to completely fund a research grant in rheumatoid arthritis.
A luncheon to honor Rick and Susan’s commitment will be held on September 30 at the Long Beach Yacht Club. Touched by the luncheon in their honor, the Sontag’s had a surprise of their own.
“You have to come to us every year, requesting our support,” began Rick Sontag. “Instead, Susan and I would like to bring you a check when we come out for the luncheon – for $1 million!”
“A gift of this size ensures there will be a Sontag Foundation Fellow for Rheumatoid Arthritis Research in perpetuity,” said Arthritis National Research Foundation board of director’s president, Kevin Donohue. “This funding will enable us to support more research towards a cure.”
Rick and Susan Sontag are both graduates of Woodrow Wilson High School, class of 1960. They return frequently to visit their many family members and friends who still reside here.
“My mother suffered the devastating effects of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for over 35 years and it finally ended her life,” said Sontag, explaining his family’s connection to this disease.
The Sontag’s built a business, raised three children and currently reside in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Now their business is philanthropy — funding cutting-edge medical research in brain cancer and RA and improving lives for those less fortunate than they.
Arthritis National Research Foundation (ANRF) grant recipients represent the top of a highly competitive field of young M.D.-Ph.D. scientists at nonprofit research institutions across the U.S. Applications are reviewed annually by ANRF’s Scientific Advisory Board of world-renowned physician-scientists.
“ANRF’s Scientific Advisory Board conducts the in-depth reviews of the applicants,” said Rick Sontag. “Once they’ve decided who deserves the research funding, we do our own internal review and choose which ANRF RA project and scientist we will support.”
Two Sontag Foundation Fellows of the Arthritis National Research Foundation will attend the September 30 luncheon: Iannis Adamopoulos, PhD, of the University of California, Davis, and Joyce Wu, PhD, of the University of Arizona.
“The Arthritis National Research Foundation is an efficient steward of charitable dollars invested in arthritis research grants,” continued Sontag, “that’s why we are proud to partner with ANRF to fund cutting-edge research.”