Lambrights donate funds for research on inherited disease

Jim Lambright, former UW football coach, and his wife Lynne have donated $100,000 to the UW School of Medicine, through the Jim Lambright Medical Research Foundation. The funds were raised during a celebrity golf tournament and banquet organized by the Lambrights in early June.

The donation will be used in a pilot project for research into an inherited neurological disorder, Niemann-Pick C disease (NP-C), that afflicts Lynne Lambright’s two adult sons, Brad Mackie, 39, and Bart Mackie, 37. (A third son died a year and a half ago of a heart attack; ironically, he was unaffected by the disease.)

“We are very grateful to the Lambrights for their personal efforts in raising funds for research into this disease,” said Dr. Paul Ramsey, vice president for medical affairs and dean of medicine. “We hope that research at the University of Washington School of Medicine will help turn their very difficult personal ordeal with this illness into the first steps toward a cure.”

Niemann-Pick C disease is caused by a recessive gene and is ultimately fatal; individuals with the disease are unable to metabolize cholesterol. Large amounts of cholesterol accumulate in the liver, spleen and brain, causing progressive deterioration of the nervous system. People with NP-C usually do not live past the age of 15, but occasionally live into adulthood.

Leading the research effort will be neurogeneticist Dr. Thomas Bird, UW professor of neurology and medical genetics who is also a research neurologist at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. Bird sits on the foundation’s board. ¶