Dagmar Dow Dunn Innovator Award

In 2015, Eva Lynn and Steve made a philanthropic commitment to establish the Dagmar Dow Dunn Innovator Award, a bold collaborative translational research program between Houston Methodist and Rice University. The program honors Steve’s mother and grandfather – Dagmar Dow Dunn and Charles Milby Dow.

Steve remembers his mother, Dagmar Dow Dunn, as a generous and grateful woman. She was an active member of Christ Church Cathedral and a longtime volunteer at the Texas Medical Center. She passed away in December 2005. His grandfather, Charles Milby Dow, was a prominent Houstonian known for his charitable deeds, including the bequest of several parks to the City of Houston.

The award is modeled in part after prominent international award programs such as the Nobel Prize, the Japan Prize and the Howard Hughes Investigators. Each year, it will provide research support to a medical investigator at Houston Methodist or Rice University working at the cutting edge of science. Innovators will be selected based on their success in applying discoveries generated during research in the laboratory to the development of medical clinical trials and studies in humans. The award is shared between Houston Methodist and Rice University because of each institution’s unique focus on translational research and strong fiscal accountability.