Tampa, FL (June 16, 2010) — The USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute has received a $10,000 gift from the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Florida. The Institute was chosen as this year’s charity by the Florida Masons.

“Each year the Grand Master is privileged to choose one charity that all Masons’ statewide will support. This year the donations go to the Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute, a Florida-based research enterprise at the forefront of cutting-edge research,” Dale I. Goehring, the Mason’s presiding Grand Master, announced May 31 at the Masons’ annual meeting in Orlando.

“Every 72 seconds a new case of this progressive and fatal disease that destroys brain cells, causing problems with memory, thinking and behavior, is diagnosed,” Goehring told the assembled Masons and guests. “Each of us, I’m sure, knows at least one family who has been touched by Alzheimer’s. “Our financial support will assist in finding a cure for this debilitating disease.”

Huntington Potter, PhD, director of the statewide Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center housed at the Byrd Institute, accepted the donation on behalf of the Institute.

“The Institute is the largest free-standing research facility dedicated singly to Alzheimer’s disease. We are making progress,” said Dr. Potter, professor of molecular medicine at USF. “We bring researchers in the basic sciences into regular contact with clinicians who are applying their laboratory findings to real patients. It is an exciting environment. The Masons’ generous gift will be applied to this research with gratitude and appreciation.”

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The Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of the State of Florida is a part of the International fraternal organization of Free & Accepted Masons. Freemasonry Freemasonry is the oldest and the largest fraternal order in the world. It is a universal brotherhood of men dedicated to serving God, family, fellowman and country.

The USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute provides state-of-the-art services to persons living with Alzheimer’s disease and coordinates and facilitates agents for all of the state’s varied efforts to prevent, diagnose, treat, and support caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease. The USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute is a multidisciplinary center of excellence joining the USF Department of Psychiatry faculty with the clinical team from the Eric Pfeiffer Suncoast Alzheimer’s Center.