Dolly Parton makes new donation to aid infectious disease research

Dolly Parton is donating one million US dollars (£829,000) to paediatric infectious disease research at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville.

The new gift is one of several Parton has made to the centre over the years, including a one million dollar gift in April 2020 for Covid vaccine research.

That gift helped Vanderbilt researchers test an array of drugs aimed at reducing the life-threatening symptoms associated with Covid-19, the centre said.

Researchers are also looking at entirely new therapies to both treat Covid-19 and prevent infection.

Parton’s new gift will support a variety of ongoing research at the medical centre, including understanding how viruses and bacteria cause disease, understanding and preventing antibiotic resistance, preventing and treating infections, diagnosing and treating infections in children with cancer, and gauging the impact of childhood infections throughout the world, according to the centre.

“Dolly’s previous support to infectious disease research, and also our paediatric cancer programme, has already saved countless lives,” said Dr Jeff Balser, president and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Centre and dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

“This new gift will bolster our defences against future threats to the safety of this region and society as a whole.”

Parton said she supports the work because she loves children.

“No child should ever have to suffer,” Parton said in a statement. “I’m willing to do my part to try and keep as many of them as I can as healthy and safe as possible.”