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Gift from Stacey and Don Kivowitz establishes visiting professorship in urology

nicely dressed man and woman stand on balcony overlooking the city
Stacey and Don Kivowitz

When one of the world’s foremost experts in prostate cancer suggested supporting one of the most significant events in urological education, Dallas businessman Don Kivowitz didn’t think twice.

“I said, ‘Absolutely, whatever you think is the best use of this gift. We trust you completely,’” Mr. Kivowitz recalled.

Mr. Kivowitz was the Founder and Chairman of Regency Post-Acute Healthcare System, which included 33 health care and rehabilitation facilities across Texas prior to its sale in 2016. Mutual friends introduced him to Claus Roehrborn, M.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Urology at UT Southwestern.

Over more than 20 years, Mr. Kivowitz and his wife, Stacey, learned about the impact of the Urology Department’s research through conversations with Dr. Roehrborn and Margaret Pearle, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and the Department’s Vice Chair of Academic Affairs. For more than two decades, the Kivowitzes have made gifts to support the William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital Plaza as well as the Department of Urology and urological disease research.

With Dr. Roehrborn’s encouragement, the couple recently made a gift to endow the Donald and Stacey Kivowitz Fund for the Harry M. Spence, M.D. Visiting Professorship in Urology. Focused on educating the next generation of urology specialists, the visiting professorship honors the late Dr. Spence, who served as Chief of Urology at UT Southwestern and Children’s Medical Center Dallas. An international leader in urology, Dr. Spence was one of the first doctors certified by the American Board of Urology and helped develop the sub-specialty of pediatric urology.

For Mrs. Kivowitz – whose father, Samuel Dorfman Jr., M.D., graduated in 1967 from UT Southwestern Medical School – the couple’s philanthropy reflects a hope to make the health care system as accessible for as many as possible.

“If our gift can help advance the visionary work being done at UT Southwestern, we are thrilled to help put a Dallas medical institution on the map,” she said.

The endowment will provide opportunities in perpetuity for the Department to invite prominent urologists to UT Southwestern to perform surgeries, attend conferences, and present lectures to residents and faculty.

“The Kivowitzes’ gift helps us with our goal of covering a significant portion of the costs, enabling us to bring in some of the world’s most elite urologists,” said Dr. Roehrborn.

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