$14 Million Estate Gift to Transform Future of Digestive Health

The gift, divided into thirds, will be used to: 1) create the Walter and Carole Young Pancreas Center at DHMC, dedicated to the care of individuals with pancreatic disorders as well as advancing pancreas research and education programs; 2) to fund and create the Walter and Carole Young Center for Digestive Health dedicated to uniting and expanding clinical programs and research in gastroenterology, hepatology, gastrointestinal (GI) surgery, endoscopy, colorectal cancer care, and obesity medicine; and 3) to establish the Walter and Carole Young Professorship in General Surgery at Geisel School of Medicine, enabling the medical school to attract and retain top surgical talent and provide ample resources to train tomorrow’s surgeons in critical areas across the spectrum of digestive health.

“The extraordinary generosity of Walter and Carole Young will have a profound and lasting impact on the quality of care we can deliver to our patients,” said Joanne M. Conroy, MD, CEO and president of Dartmouth Health. “This gift not only exemplifies the power of philanthropy to drive healthcare innovation, but it also reinforces our foundational commitment to delivering world-class, integrated care to members of our extended patient population. The Youngs’ vision and compassion for this community will resonate through generations, touching the lives of patients, families, and healthcare professionals for years to come.”

This highly impactful gift significantly enhances patient care; accelerates critical education, research, and clinical trial programs; and expands both medical treatment and surgery options for a host of digestive health conditions—from pancreatic and liver diseases to Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, GI motility disorders, and obesity. This investment will solidify Dartmouth Health’s digestive health programs as the most innovative and comprehensive in New England.

Through its wide-reaching impact on patient care, research, and training, “this gift has allowed us to build an integrated center that draws expertise from various specialties,” said Corey A. Siegel, MD, director of the Walter and Carole Young Center for Digestive Health, section chief of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at DHMC, and professor of medicine at Geisel. “We can now deliver truly comprehensive care and turn innovative ideas into reality.”

A Personal Journey’s Lasting Impact

Walter and Carole Young’s legacy is deeply rooted in their humble beginnings in Claremont, N.H., and in their commitment to giving back to New Hampshire’s Woodsville-Wells River area, where they lived and ran a lumber business for much of their lives.

The Youngs’ connection to DHMC began in 2012, when Walter initially sought treatment for pancreatic duct stone disease. After first being diagnosed at DHMC’s Lyme, N.H., clinic, Walter was referred to DHMC pancreas surgeon Kerrington Smith, MD. When Smith removed a large number of stones from his pancreatic duct, Walter finally felt relief from debilitating symptoms that had prevented him from digesting food. 

Smith’s attentiveness to Walter post-surgery, and his unwavering commitment to Walter’s full recovery, made a lasting impression on the patient. “I would [visit] him twice a day in the hospital on rounds and called to check in with him after surgery,” said Smith, who is also associate professor of surgery at Geisel, noting that after Walter recovered, “he was interested in learning more about the pancreas and I think we just connected.  He was very curious and interested in helping the local community—and especially patients in the North Country.” 

Over the next several months, Smith and the Youngs grew closer, with Smith inviting the couple to the medical center’s Pancreas Education Day. While there, the Youngs met DHMC gastroenterologist Timothy Gardner, MD, and learned about a new, revolutionary procedure for treating advanced pancreatic disease called auto-islet cell transplant therapy, which Gardner and Smith hoped to one day offer their patients. 

“In this complex surgery, we remove a patient’s diseased pancreas,” explained Gardner, who is also professor of medicine and assistant dean of medical student research at Geisel. “But instead of discarding it, we isolate the insulin-producing islet cells. These cells are then transplanted back into the patient's liver, where they essentially grow [into] a new pancreas. This procedure not only treats pancreatic disease but also helps prevent the onset of diabetes that typically follows pancreas removal. It’s a life-changing treatment that offers hope to patients who previously had limited options.”

At the time, this procedure could not be performed locally because DHMC did not have the islet cell lab equipment. DHMC either relied on other hospitals for help with key parts of the procedure, or else patients had to travel hundreds, even thousands, of miles elsewhere to receive and recover from this life-saving therapy, often uprooting their lives for months on end. 

Impressed with the promise of auto-islet cell transplant therapy and the impact it could have on residents of northern New England, the Youngs made a gift to DHMC in 2014 of more than $250,000 to purchase equipment that allowed Smith and Gardner to establish the total pancreatectomy islet auto cell transplant program at DHMC.

Because of that gift, “we can provide this life-changing procedure right here at DHMC, saving patients from having to travel far from home for treatment,” Gardner said. “As a business owner, Walter understood this tangible benefit. He could have a real impact on patient care and outcomes.”

That initial gift would lay the groundwork for the Youngs’ transformational bequest, which is already beginning to impact nearly all areas of digestive health at DHMC and Geisel—from enhancing patient care and accelerating basic, translational, and clinical research to investing in the education and training of surgeons and digestive health specialists.

“We’ve been able to recruit world-class talent and develop new programs that bring together clinical and basic science research,” said Siegel. “We’re building an ecosystem that offers cutting-edge treatment while educating the next generation of healthcare leaders.”

Importantly, the gift will also enable the hiring of a cancer care navigator to serve as a bridge between the Center for Digestive Health and Dartmouth Cancer Center. “This role addresses a critical gap in patient care,” Siegel noted. “When a patient is diagnosed with cancer [by a member of our team], there’s an incredibly vulnerable period between diagnosis and seeing an oncologist, which can last days or even weeks. Our navigator will be the patient’s go-to person during this scary time, ensuring they're supported and guided until they’re in the right hands. This approach is unique and addresses both patient needs and provider concerns about continuity of care. It's a fantastic use of the Youngs’ gift that will have an immediate and profound impact on patient care.”

Siegel envisions the Walter and Carole Young Center for Digestive Health as a place where providers across a range of specialties in digestive health can work collaboratively together and “leverage the synergy” of everybody’s respective talents, resulting in better, more efficient care that benefits doctors as much as patients. 

“Our goal is to provide world-class, integrated care for digestive health across New England and beyond,” he said, and the generosity and legacy of Walter and Carole Young will now make that possible. “This gift gives us the ability to operationalize what we believe is the best possible care for patients, with a sustainable model that will influence digestive health for years to come.”

To learn more about planned giving, please contact Katherine Blackman at Katherine.D.Blackman@hitchcock.org or 603-646-5808, or visit dhgeiselplannedgiving.org.