Who We Are

The Founders' Board of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is dedicated to supporting the hospital’s mission of providing the most advanced and compassionate healthcare for children and their families. The Board prides itself on providing this steadfast support based on four very critical pillars of commitment:

We Advocate. We Educate. We Fundraise. We Serve.

The Founders’ Board is comprised of both active and associate members who are passionate in their belief that all children need access to superior healthcare. Our lifelong commitment to this vision ensures a healthier future for all of our children.

Leadership Legacy

In May 1882, Julia Foster Porter opened the Maurice F. Porter Memorial Hospital, which was an eight-bed cottage in Lincoln Park. The hospital’s original intent was to provide exclusively free care for children, “without restriction as to race, color, creed, or ability to pay.”

Mrs. Porter invited nine women to serve on an advisory board of managers for the hospital, which is now known as the Founders’ Board. The hospital underwent major reorganization in 1903–1904, opening a new area of expansion essential to its future. Mrs. Porter approved changing the hospital’s name from the Maurice Porter Children’s Hospital to Children’s Memorial Hospital.

For over a century, Children’s Memorial Hospital provided advanced pediatric care to all of Chicago’s children. In June 2012, through philanthropic support including a transformational $100 million gift by former pediatric nurse Ann Lurie, Children’s Memorial Hospital moved its site from the Lincoln Park area to Streeterville and opened the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The Founders’ Board was at the forefront of the move helping assure that all 127 patients were safely transported to the new facility. The now almost 360-bed hospital is a destination for patients and families worldwide.