![\"Ross_Perot.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/files\/Ross_Perot.jpg\")
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Former US presidential candidate Ross Perot may have derailed the Republican Party\u2019s hopes of reelecting George Bush Sr. in 1992, but the Texas businessman is now proving to be a blessing for another Republican ambition \u2014 namely winning what former President Richard Nixon coined the \u2018War on Cancer\u2019.<\/p>\n
In a gift as big as his much caricatured ears, Perot is donating $20 million to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for research into new personalized cancer therapies. Perot, whose total fortune is estimated by some at around $3.5 billion, had previously given more than $40 million to support biomedical research at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.<\/p>\n
In Perot\u2019s long-winded style, best exemplified by his half-hour prime-time TV infomercials<\/a>, the donation will be paid in $2 million installments over ten years. But unlike in 1992, when he split the presidential vote in the Democratic candidate\u2019s favor, the present-day donation will be divided equally between two new MD Anderson Centers: the Center for Targeted Therapy and the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy.<\/p>\n (Hat tip: GenomeWeb<\/a>)<\/p>\n Image: Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former US presidential candidate Ross Perot may have derailed the Republican Party\u2019s hopes of reelecting George Bush Sr. in 1992, but the Texas businessman is now proving to be a blessing for another Republican ambition \u2014 namely winning what former President Richard Nixon coined the \u2018War on Cancer\u2019. In a gift as big as his much caricatured ears, Perot is donating $20 million to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for research into new personalized cancer therapies. Perot, whose total fortune is estimated by some at around $3.5 billion, had previously given more than $40 million … Read more<\/a> Continue reading