Page 59 - Gates-AnnualReport-2019

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CHARLIE’S ANGELS
On August 22, 2019, at the fourth annual Charlie’s Picnic, Wag Schorr, M.D., became the third recipient of the “Charlie’s Angel” award. Initiated in 2017, the award honors special individuals who play unusual and often quiet roles, helping the Gates Center thrive.
After welcoming the partygoers on behalf of herself, husband Marshall, brother John Gates and his partner Julia Wrapp, Diane Gates Wallach conferred the award – the only item on the agenda aside from camaraderie and enjoying a relaxed evening on a surprisingly stormy summer night. Diane explained the award’s genesis in her father Charlie Gates’ love of the long running television series “Charlie’s Angels,” featuring gorgeous and athletic women solving the world’s problems in creative ways. As strong, persistent individuals, they functioned even stronger as a team. They could surely make a splash when necessary but avoided publicity and rode quietly into the sunset after the good deed was done. Most importantly, these angels practiced what Charlie loved, which was stepping out, being bold, taking risks...and caring about making the world a better place.
Diane described Wag as adventurous and curious, traveling with his bride Annalee to all corners of the world; an aspiring golfer who pursues the perfect game while loving the walk and endless possibilities; a lover of young people, endlessly encouraging them toward medical and scientific careers; and a legendary doctor who pioneered kidney transplants internationally, having studied at the University of Colorado School of Medicine under transplant pioneer Thomas Starzl, M.D., Ph.D. who performed the first organ transplant in 1963. Finally, Wag recently took the initiative to create a new and unique research and clinical collaboration between the Gates Center, Children’s Hospital Colorado and the Dean of the CU School of Medicine. This particular Angel, Diane explained, has graced himself in many ways over the years and on top of it has now assembled both the team and funding to breathe life and urgency into finding a cure for the rare disease of Ehlers- Danlos Syndrome – a disease from which his granddaughter Calla suffers (see article on page 20).
59 Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine
(left to right)
Wag Schorr’s wife Annalee Schorr, granddaughter Savannah Winchell, daughter Kate Schorr,
son Wag Schorr-Ratzlaff and Charlie’s Angel Wag Schorr