Dolly Parton donating $1M toward pediatric infectious disease research

Dolly Parton is giving $1 million to aid pediatric infectious disease research, including studying ways to fight COVID-19 in kids.

The donation announced Wednesday from the “Jolene” singer will go toward research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.

The money is being called a “transformative gift,” with officials saying it could “help in the fight against serious infectious diseases such as coronavirus that have worldwide ramifications.”

“I love all children,” Parton, 76, said in a statement. “No child should ever have to suffer, and I’m willing to do my part to try and keep as many of them as I can as healthy and safe as possible.”

It’s not the first time that Parton has put money toward Vanderbilt’s medical research.

In 2020, the country music legend donated $1 million to coronavirus research there, in honor of her longtime friend, Naji Abumrad, a surgery professor at the university.

The 2020 donation helped fund the development of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, according to The New England Journal of Medicine.

“We are deeply honored by Dolly’s contribution to our research mission,” Mark Denison, a professor of pediatrics and director of Vanderbilt’s division of pediatric infectious diseases, said of Parton’s latest gift.

Denison said Parton’s donation will “accelerate” the work already being done and “support new ideas.”

— Updated at 11:13 a.m.