For over 15 years, Wintrust has been a financial and philanthropic partner of Friends of Prentice, an independent volunteer board dedicated to closing the gap in women’s health research. Focusing on early-stage and underfunded research, Friends of Prentice (FOP) is transforming women’s healthcare on a global level.

For many Wintrust employees, Prentice Women’s Hospital is where their families began, which is the case for Chris Newton, Executive Vice President of Business Development at Wintrust Wealth Management, who ultimately kicked off Wintrust’s relationship with the hospital.

In 2005, Chris and his wife Stephanie’s second child, Andrew, was born at Prentice. What was scheduled as a routine C-section took a frightening turn when Andrew was having trouble breathing. Diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening condition, Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn (PPHN), Andrew was whisked away for oxygen, and later intubated and admitted to the NICU.

“There’s nothing worse than having a child and then leaving the hospital without that child,” Chris said. “It was two weeks, but it felt like a lifetime.” Though devastated that Andrew couldn’t come home with them, the Newtons knew he was receiving the best care.

“We were very fortunate to be where we were,” Stephanie said, explaining that Prentice is a level 3 NICU and that the doctor running the NICU at the time just so happened to specialize in PPHN.

“She got called in a few times in the middle of the night to tend to his needs when things weren’t going so well,” Chris said. “You understand the dedication that the doctors and nurses have to the patients—and at all hours of the day… We feel very lucky.”

After a couple of weeks, Chris and Stephanie finally got to bring Andrew home to meet his older brother and the family dog. Still on “pins and needles” that something could go wrong, they were appreciative of the care they continued to receive from doctors and nurses as they monitored Andrew’s progress.

Grateful and inspired by this level of care, the Newtons wanted to do something to show their appreciation. What started as a plan to order lunch for the nurses quickly evolved into something more.

“I think we were just feeling so lucky and blessed at the time that everything turned out okay, and we thought we needed to do something to help other people in our position or just to give back because it was a life-changing experience,” Stephanie said.

“We wanted to support the people who changed our lives for the better,” Chris said. “I sought out how I could get involved with Prentice to make sure there are more of these happy endings that we were lucky enough to have.”

They were introduced to Friends of Prentice, and Chris joined the board shortly after. Eventually, he asked if Wintrust would support FOP, and was met with a resounding yes, and a commitment to engage beyond monetary donations. Now, 21 years after Chris’s introduction to FOP, his son Andrew begins an internship at Wintrust this summer, and Chris remains active with FOP, serving on the executive board.

“We want to create a more cohesive family, and we feel that at Wintrust,” said Kristen Field, Executive Director, Friends of Prentice. “Wintrust has invested their time, their talents, their treasure into our organization because they believe in our mission. They are the community bank, just like we are this community organization.”

As FOP celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, Wintrust is honored to be among the top 1% of donors—helping to advance FOP’s mission to catalyze the next generation of breakthroughs. Wintrust lives by the commitment to be there for the community—supporting and sustaining friends and neighbors in small, local ways that lead to larger outcomes.

FOP views grants as “seed funding,” as they provide the initial spark for research that is often too early or niche for major federal funding. Each donation is a multiplier, enabling researchers to generate the data required to apply for multi-million-dollar federal grants.

“One of the key aspects of Friends of Prentice is it’s not just a core group of committed people, it’s a core group of committed donors,” explained Dr. Lynn Yee, MD, MPH, Friends of Prentice Grant Recipient. “In medicine in the U.S., getting federal funding is really the goal, but it’s a hard goal to achieve.”

A multi-time FOP grant recipient, Dr. Yee’s research focuses on improving outcomes for mothers and babies through innovative maternal health research. When FOP provided a multi-year $250,000 grant to support participation in the NIH Maternal Fetal Medicine Units (MFMU) Network, Northwestern researchers were able to participate in national clinical trials that advanced care for high-risk pregnancies. This “seed” allowed Dr. Yee to produce critical data needed to secure a multi-million dollar NIH-funded portfolio.

“Friends of Prentice made substantial investments in my research at an early career stage,” Dr. Yee said. “FOP was pivotal to being able to generate the data to support those grant applications.”

“We may give a small grant, but we’ve seen that go on to make millions for women’s health research,” Field said. “And that means Wintrust investing in us as a donor—and believing in us—has created ripple effects for women’s health that are felt throughout the world.”