Looking Forward While Giving Back
For the Haarbergs, their motivation to fund the university’s 3D Center is as personal as it gets.
Scroll
When facing challenges, oftentimes all the pieces needed for a solution are there.
We simply need to reimagine how those existing pieces are used.
Kevin and Lorie Haarberg’s philanthropic mission is a prime example.
The Haarberg 3D (Drug, Disease and Delivery) Research Center is an innovative initiative at SDSU that targets the couple’s greatest passion projects: pharmaceuticals and cancer treatment. Located within the Avera Health and Science Center, the Haarberg 3D Center aims to modify existing drugs, while optimizing their biological and delivery properties.
The cost of discovering and fully developing a new drug in the pharmaceutical industry translates to nearly a billion dollars and 10 to 16 years per drug. The Haarberg 3D Center’s goal is to repurpose existing drugs and medicines to cut that time and cost in half.
The program strives to transform the treatment of cancer and other diseases by establishing new therapeutic uses for already-approved drugs. New formulations and delivery systems for those drugs can reduce development time and costs, while improving health outcomes for a variety of diseases, particularly cancer.
The unique intersection of science and health care is a premier way to build university, industry, and clinical partnerships to accelerate the initiative and tackle a common goal.
“The 3D Center partners with the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions to invite other world-class researchers to share their work and interact with Jackrabbits through workshops, seminars, and training programs,” said Dr. Hemachand Tummala, Department Head for the college and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences. “This exposure enriches the educational experience for Jackrabbits and inspires them to consider research as a career.”
The novel idea behind the initiative is especially fitting for the Haarbergs, and their reasons for giving back are as personal as it gets. Kevin is a 1979 pharmacy graduate. Lorie’s life was heavily impacted by cancer; her parents, Roger and Louise, passed away within two years of each other from cancer. Both were only in their 50s.
The couple had already prioritized their fight against cancer for their philanthropic interests, having previously funded an endowed chair in cancer research at SDSU.
The 3D Center was officially established in 2021 by a five-year, $3.9 million award from the South Dakota Research and Commercialization Council. The grant application was strengthened by the Haarbergs’ commitment to provide $1.1 million in bridge funding.
Kevin is proud that the transformational center found a home at SDSU. “Only three other institutions in the United States have a program like this, and those are Harvard, Vanderbilt, and Michigan University,” Kevin said. “I’d say we’re in pretty good company.”
“At first, we weren’t sure where we wanted to go, when it came to donating,” Lorie said. “Kevin wanted to give to pharmacy, and I wanted to give to cancer. I’m grateful we could marry the two. My passion is giving back and helping out however we can.”
Lorie’s volunteer service in their community of Woodland, California, includes an organization called No One Dies Alone, which connects advocates with patients in hospice care. The goal is to ensure that people have someone by their side in their final moments. Lorie is deeply involved in the Woodland Memorial Hospital, home to the Lorie Haarberg Building for cancer treatment.
“We truly believe that our leaders and faculty are focused on the students and the state to lift everyone to a better place,” Kevin said. “I’m going to quote Coach Stig here, but we feel that by doing this, we MAD – Make a Difference.”
Lorie HaarbergWe hope our gift can make a difference for the school, for cancer, for the 3D initiative, of course, but we also hope that we can lead by example and inspire others to donate to other colleges on the campus on a much wider scale.
Kevin easily recalls life-changing memories as a student and ones he’s enjoyed as an alum, including the electric energy of the pre-game rally before the FCS National Championship.
Perhaps above all others, one stands out for Kevin and Lorie. It’s symbolized by a gift from the university that they hold dear: matching honorary white lab coats, embroidered with their names and given as a sign of appreciation at the naming ceremony for the Haarberg 3D Center.
“As the region’s first center heavily focused on translating discoveries from bench to bedside, it serves as a hub for biomedical innovation, connecting researchers across the state committed to advancing their work to clinical application.”
–Dr. Hemachand Tummala
What kind of projects take place in the Haarberg 3D Center?
Innovations within the Haarberg 3D Center are well underway, with ongoing research initiatives designed to engage both doctoral and undergraduate students. Examples include:
- A patented initiative to engineer artificial corneas utilizing biomaterial derived from pig corneas;
- A patented strategy to synthesize and deliver new cancer medication that specifically targets and activates the immune system to clear cancer;
- A faculty investigation exploring new antigens for the creation of an mRNA-based cancer vaccine.
