Frost Bank directs $500,000 to Health Science Center

frost_logo_BODYFrost Bank, a subsidiary of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE symbol: CFR), is directing $500,000 over the next 10 years to support the research enterprise at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., president of the Health Science Center, announced recently.

“Frost Bank’s motto is ‘We’re from here,’ and that is certainly the type of close community partner Frost Bank is for San Antonio, our state and the Health Science Center,” Dr. Cigarroa said. “We greatly appreciate this level of commitment by an outstanding corporate partner and friend. This funding will have a significant impact through research that promises to improve the health of South Texans for decades to come.”

Half of the funding, $250,000, is a grant from the Frost Foundation to the President’s Excellence Fund Endowment, a fund that will be used to recruit and retain star scientists in many fields, including studies of aging, cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, to name a few. The Frost Foundation funding will allow the Health Science Center to establish a distinguished professorship in one of these important areas.

The second half of the funding is a $250,000 grant from the Mary A. Peterson Wyatt Charitable Trust, for which Frost Bank is the trustee. The grant will support construction of the South Texas Research Facility, a $150 million research facility that will provide 250,000 square feet of new state-of-the-art laboratories. In this building, scientists will engage in translational research to rapidly move discoveries from the bench to the bedside. The South Texas Research Facility will help address the Health Science Center’s growing space deficit, Dr. Cigarroa said.

“During our 138-year history, Frost Bank has been involved in virtually every significant project that raises the bar and moves San Antonio forward. In embarking on this initiative, Dr. Cigarroa will build on the city’s $14 billion biosciences industry to take the Health Science Center to that next level. We are proud to be part of making his vision a reality,” said Melissa Adams, senior vice president for corporate donations and trust charities at Frost Bank.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $500 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $14 billion biosciences and health care industry, the leading sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had a $34 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 20,500 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and allied health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, pain management, genetics, nursing, allied health, dentistry and many other fields. Web site: www.uthscsa.edu.

Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. is a financial holding company, headquartered in San Antonio, with assets of $11.4 billion at June 30, 2006. The corporation provides a full range of commercial and consumer banking products, investment and brokerage services, insurance products and investment banking services. Its subsidiary, Frost Bank, operates 93 financial centers across Texas in the Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio regions. Founded in 1868, Frost is the largest Texas-based bank, helping Texans with their financial needs during three centuries. Web site:www.frostbank.com.



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