Kansas City, Mo. (Sept. 17, 2007) –Jim and Virginia Stowers, founders of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, were awarded William F. Yates Medallions by William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo. last week.

     The Yates Medallion is the highest non-degree award William Jewell College bestows. William F. Yates graduated from the college in 1898. He was a long-time member of the college’s Board of Trustees and major benefactor. He and his wife created an endowment to establish the college’s chemistry department.

     Each year at William Jewell’s Opening Convocation, area civic leaders are recognized for their accomplishments with the Yates Medallion.

     The Stowers were honored for their contributions to the region by founding American Century Investments and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. Also recognized this year were Tom Bowser, President and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, and Karen Pletz, President and CEO of Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. Dr. Barbara Atkinson, Executive Vice Chancellor at the University of Kansas Medical Center and Executive Dean of the School of Medicine, was the convocation’s featured speaker.

About the Stowers Institute
     Housed in a 600,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility on a 10-acre campus in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research conducts basic research on fundamental processes of cellular life. Through its commitment to collaborative research and the use of cutting-edge technology, the Institute seeks more effective means of preventing and curing disease. The Institute was founded by Jim and Virginia Stowers, two cancer survivors who have created combined endowments of $2 billion in support of basic research of the highest quality.