District 207 Educational Foundation receives $10,000 donation
The Maine Township High School District 207 Educational Foundation announced that Dr. W. Michael Kuehl, a senior researcher for the National Cancer Institute and 1957 graduate of Maine East, has donated $10,000 to the foundation.
His donation is in honor of his mother, Anne Z. Kuehl, who served as the first female member of the Maine High School District 207 board of education.
Dr. Kuehl received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard, completed postdoctoral research fellowships at the National Institutes of Health and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and served as professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Virginia Medical School before coming to the National Cancer Institute in 1982.
Dr. Kuehl has a wide range of research interests in his position as chief of the Molecular Pathogenesis of Myolema Section and deputy chief of the NCI’s Genetics Branch.
In recognition of his many contributions to the field of multiple myeloma, including more than 140 research publications, Dr. Kuehl was honored with the biennial Waldenstrom’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2011.
Dr. Kuehl has requested that his donation be used to direct District 207 students’ attention to the study of an important public health issue — the environmental causes of disease. It reflects both a personal and professional interest, as his mother and his brother John, both heavy smokers, died too young of lung cancer.
Honoring his request, the foundation and the District 207 administration is creating a program in which teachers and students will strive to create exemplary units of study and student projects. These will be acknowledged with monetary awards, the “Kuehl Prizes.”
At Dr. Kuehl’s request, District 207 teachers in all departments will be encouraged to submit proposals outlining units of study that will explore the environmental causes of disease in terms of scientific studies, but also in terms of politics, literature, the arts, music and health studies.
Kuehl Prize projects submitted by students from Maine East, West, and South will be on display for District 207 students and the community during the 2012-2013 school year.
A group of judges, which will include Dr. Kuehl, public health professionals, District 207 staff, and foundation members, will choose the winners of the Kuehl prizes, who will be announced at the Educational Foundation Benefit Dinner in April 2013.