SOUTHWEST FOUNDATION FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

Since its founding in 1941 by Tom Slick, Jr., Southwest Foundation's 397-acre campus in San Antonio, Texas has become one of the largest and most internationally renowned of the independent, nonprofit biomedical research institutions in the United States. Its team of more than 60 doctoral-level scientists dedicate themselves to improving human health through research on the detection, cause, prevention, cure and eradication of disease. More than 220 technical and administrative personnel support Southwest Foundation's five research departments: Genetics, Organic Chemistry, Physiology and Medicine, Virology and Immunology, and Laboratory Animal Medicine.

Southwest Foundation enjoys a distinguished history regarding the use of nonhuman primates, primarily baboons and chimpanzees, for scientific research. Its expertise with using nonhuman primates resulted in the Foundation being named the home of the new Southwest Regional Primate Research Center in 1999. Southwest Foundation maintains the world's largest baboon breeding colony of 3,600 animals, as well as more than 3,400 other animals available for scientific research. To accommodate its vast research programs, Southwest Foundation has more than 480,000 square feet of space for laboratories, offices, and animal hospital, library and specially designed animal facilities, including two six-acre baboon corrals.

With an annual operating budget of $35 million, the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research receives nearly 70 percent of its research program funding from the National Institute of Health and other funding agencies through competitive grants and contracts.