Alongside her busy clinical schedule, she is instrumental in bringing the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart & Lung Research Institute’s mission to life for donors and alumni by hosting tours of the facility and speaking at events. She is also a key partner in stewarding donors. In conversations with donors, she listens carefully, offers thoughtful insights that connect science to impact and builds authentic connections.

Professor Summers understands how the protection and care of a relationship to strengthen and preserve it over time is integral to good donor stewardship. This understanding is apparent in the relationship she has helped to establish with philanthropist Victor Dahdaleh. She proactively seeks and welcomes opportunities to regularly connect, and ensures the donor's crucial role in the VPD-HLRI is publicly acknowledged in communications and outreach. This year the VPD-HLRI received a further gift of £5m from Victor Dahdaleh, significantly enhancing the Institute's capacity to conduct groundbreaking research to improve cardiovascular and lung health.

The gift comprised £4m towards a newly created endowment fund at the Institute and £1m to establish an endowed PhD studentship at Trinity College for a student working within the Institute. PhD students are a vital part of our intellectual community and funding such as this ensures that the most talented students can come to Cambridge, bringing new perspectives, critical insights and bold ideas to the University’s research and innovation work.

Effective stewardship involves thoughtful and strategic efforts to acknowledge, recognise and engage with donors, creating connection and trust. This year we have expanded how we bring the impact of philanthropy to life for donors, to ensure that they can engage with Cambridge in ways that are meaningful to them. This has included short films featuring academics and students.