Philanthropic Leadership

“I have really been blessed over the years with opportunities and feel strongly as such that I should try to make a difference in other people's lives.” -Tony

Coelho has supported numerous organizations and initiatives to help make a difference in the lives of others, especially those living with a disability, including the following:

Founded and endowed The Coelho Disability Center at Loyola Marymount University

Endowed the Coelho Chair in Epilepsy for the Seizure Disorder Center at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (See below for more detail)

Major gift to United Cerebral Palsy for technology solutions

Started the Coelho Adjunct Professorship in Political Management at George Washington University

Endowed a jobs program, the Kids on the Block (puppet) learning program, and an epilepsy camp at the Epilepsy Foundation

The following is written by Dr. Jerome "Pete" Engel, Jr., MD, PhD,

Director of the Seizure Disorder Center at UCLA

During the early 1990’s, Tony Coelho raised $1M to support the Seizure Disorder Center of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Jerome Engel, Jr., MD, PhD, Director of the Seizure Disorder Center, in consultation with the Dean of the Medical School, and the Chair of the Department of Neurology, elected to use these funds to endow a chair in epilepsy.

A world-wide search was undertaken to identify an outstanding

basic neuroscientist and Istvan Mody, PhD, was awarded the Tony Coelho Chair in 1995. Dr. Mody’s laboratory at UCLA has since been one of the most productive working in the field of basic research in epilepsy. Since 1995 Dr. Mody’s laboratory has published 237 research papers (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/istvan.mody.1/bibliography/public/), all of which mention support by the Tony Coelho Endowment.

The significance of these contributions to scientific research is measured by the number of times they are cited by other investigators; many have been repeatedly cited, yielding a total of more than 25,500 citations.

Some of the most notable contributions to science during this period were the discovery of altered GABA-A receptors in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, the characterization of human neurons dissociated from surgical specimens removed from patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, and the demonstration of inhibitory neuronal deficits in Alzheimer’s disease leading to epileptic-like events.

Studies on the alterations of GABA-A receptors in the mammalian brain have provided valuable insight into the mechanisms underlying the exacerbation of seizures during certain stages of the menstrual cycle in women with epilepsy. The discovery of inhibitory deficits in Alzheimer’s disease has led to a novel understanding of pathological alterations that take place early on in this severe neurodegenerative disease.

Dr. Mody’s latest research involves drug development to enhance the function of inhibitory neurons in Alzheimer’s disease to prevent the development of epilepsy in these patients and, at the same time, to counter the cognitive decline experienced early in the disease process.

With the continued support of the Tony Coelho Endowment, Dr. Mody will continue his high research productivity and translationally relevant discoveries in the field of epilepsies and related brain disorders.