Estate gift benefits mental health program

Last June, John T. Walkup, MD, was invested with the Margaret C. Osterman Professorship in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at a celebration attended by Lurie Children's hospital leadership, board members, colleagues and family members. Dr. Walkup, Chair of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, joined the hospital in September 2017 from New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

"It is a great privilege to be invested with the Osterman Professorship," says Dr. Walkup, whose current focus is on mental health issues related to anxiety disorders, which affect 8 to 10 percent of children and adolescents. "Margaret Osterman's interest and support for mental health and Lurie Children's is an enduring gift that supports our advancing program development and scholarly activity."

The Osterman Professorship was first invested in 1993, thanks to an estate gift from the Osterman family. Siblings Margaret, Edith and Raymond Osterman all cared deeply about children's health, and also supported other medical centers in Chicago as well as in their native Quad Cities.

Endowed positions like Dr. Walkup's provide essential funding for recruiting and retaining talented faculty members; advancing innovative research; and supporting the training of promising young physicians and scientists. Most importantly, endowments ensure both the future and present health of the children and families Lurie Children's serves.