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Celebrating 21 years of the Stowers Institute

The Stowers Institute for Medical Research to mark the 21st anniversary of the opening of its research campus

22 December 2021

Painting of the Stowers Institute with text Celebrating 21 Years

The Stowers Institute for Medical Research announced plans to mark the 21st anniversary of the opening of its research campus with a series of celebrations over the coming months.

The Institute was formally established in 1994 by Jim and Virginia Stowers. In 1995, the Institute purchased the former 10-acre Menorah Medical Center campus in Kansas City, Missouri. After five years of construction, the Stowers Institute research campus officially opened in November 2000.

The Institute is celebrating 21 years by highlighting six themes representing key components of the Institute's success: the Institute’s founders, campus, people, scientific research, training programs, and connections to related organizations. Details of these themes will be shared on the Stowers website and the Institute’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn social media accounts. The series will culminate in a final celebration inclusive of all six themes.

Celebrating Our Founders

The first theme is Celebrating Our Founders, Jim and Virginia Stowers. Our founders’ vision grew from their long-standing dream of helping people. Through American Century Investments, founded by Jim, they helped people improve their financial security. Later on, after each had a bout with cancer, they decided to help people suffering from life-threatening diseases. The legacy of Jim and Virginia Stowers is the incredible generosity and concern for others demonstrated by contributing the vast majority of their wealth to the advancement of science and giving others hope for life.

Learn more about our extraordinary founders Jim and Virginia Stowers in the following video slideshow highlighting photos and quotes from the past two decades and related stories.