John P. and Terri Hussmans’ naming gift to the Miller School of Medicine’s Institute for Human Genomics supports state-of-the-art research in autism, Alzheimer’s, and other conditions.

Economist, philanthropist, and researcher John P. Hussman has been researching autism since his son, J.P., was diagnosed with the disorder more than a decade ago. About seven years ago he began collaborating on projects with Margaret A. Pericak-Vance, director of the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, and her husband, Jeffery M. Vance, chair of The Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics, both at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Hussman contributes his own unique expertise in data mining to the search for autism risk genes and has co-authored papers with Pericak-Vance. He also has supported the Vances’ research financially, including a generous gift in 2009, after which the institute was renamed in his honor. In addition to funding autism research, Hussman has supported the Vances’ work on thrombotic storm, a rare blood-clotting condition that took the life of their son, J.J., when he was 14.

Hussman and his wife, Terri, direct the Hussman Foundation, which provides life-changing assistance through medical research, education, and direct aid to vulnerable individuals having urgent needs or significant disabilities. Hussman, a UM trustee, also is president and principal shareholder of Hussman Strategic Advisors.

The Hussmans’ gift to the institute has supported one of the first large-scale autism sequencing projects of its kind and has helped produce other important research breakthroughs, including the discovery of a gene that causes retinitis pigmentosa and the identification of four new risk genes for Alzheimer’s disease.

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