Columbia Receives $6.5 Million Gift to Expand the Weinberg Family Cerebral Palsy Center

With a transformational gift of $6.5 million, the Weinberg Family Cerebral Palsy Center at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) will launch its second decade of excellence in clinical care, research, and education programs for people with cerebral palsy (CP).

Established in 2013, the Weinberg Family Cerebral Palsy Center is dedicated to lifetime, multidisciplinary care for families living with cerebral palsy. Since its founding, the center has pioneered the care of patients of all ages and facilitated the transition from pediatric to adult care. In its first decade, the center emphasized coordination of care with specialists in a variety of disciplines, with a special focus on the emotional well-being of patients and families through support programs and mental health care, and created educational programs for medical professionals and the CP community. It is the only CP center in the country to house a basic science program.

Building on these accomplishments and the center’s strengths, this gift from the center’s original benefactors, Deborah and Peter Weinberg, will enable the center to deepen its holistic approach to improving the lives of people with CP by expanding its multidisciplinary team of clinicians, creating state-of-the-art laboratory spaces for translational science, and establishing new educational opportunities for physicians specializing in the practice of CP care.

“Our goal with this gift is to continue to make the center a nationwide model for an integrated research and treatment program to help patients with cerebral palsy manage their condition holistically with the best care and as much support as possible,” Debby Weinberg said. “We feel extremely grateful to Dr. Carmel and to all of our son’s physicians at VP&S for the superb care they provided and the dedication they have shown our family—and every family that comes to the center.”

Editor's note: A version of this article was originally published by Columbia University Irving Medical Center.