A continuing focus on the importance of beginnings

Neither Tomora nor Garey Ellis are basic science researchers, but they have an intuitive appreciation for people who create solutions by focusing on the root cause of things. And they understand the value of providing consistent support for Whitehead Institute investigators’ pursuit of pioneering scientific discoveries.

Indeed, Tomora and Garey are philanthropic pioneers at the Institute: Donors since 2003, they were the first to commit to making ongoing monthly contributions to support our research programs. Over the past 20 years, their steadfast contributions have totaled nearly $100,000.

“We were initially connected with Whitehead Institute by our friend and fellow philanthropist, Letty Gochberg, who recognized our interest in science, health-oriented research, and education,” Tomora recalls. But that’s getting ahead of their story.

Garey was eleven when his parents — his father, a handyman; his mother, a housekeeper — moved the family from Jamaica to New York City. Those parents translated high expectations to their seven sons. Perhaps that’s why — even though he was diagnosed with dyslexia in his 20’s — Garey attended Morehouse School of Medicine and graduated from Ross School of Medicine, where he developed expertise in public health, wellness education, and the treatment of eating disorders. Early in his career, he served as deputy director for a program funded by UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute, where he created programs to help parents of Head Start students effectively manage the children's healthcare.

Tomora, who was raised in Greenville, South Carolina, earned a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in experimental psychology and is currently pursuing a doctorate in psychology. She was working with the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where she and Garey met. Not long after — seeking a way to improve the lives of children in Garey’s adopted hometown of New York — the couple founded (and have since led) the non-profit Inner Force Economic Development Corp as well as the Inner Force family of daycare centers. Inner Force Tots is one the largest early childhood learning centers in Brooklyn and Tomora’s training in psychology and knowledge of mental health were critical in creating the standards and curricula for its programs. Collectively, the Inner Force organizations offer pre-school, after-school, and summer enrichment programs for at-risk children and early teens. In addition to education activities, they provide community-level initiatives on health challenges such as asthma, diabetes, and obesity.

In the early 2000’s, they met Letty Gochberg, who had helped found one of the Institute’s public engagement groups. “Through that connection, we were able to engage some of our groups’ students in Whitehead Institute programs for school-age kids,” Garey explains. “That was the catalyst for Tomora’s and my personal engagement with Whitehead.”

Over the years, the couple participated in many Institute symposia and workshops — sometimes accompanied by their children — and two of their sons attended Whitehead’s summer program for middle school students.

The Ellis’s abiding connection to Whitehead Institute makes sense. Both they and the Institute are dedicated to solving problems of human health by learning about and addressing how, where, and why those problems first emerge: Tomora and Garey focusing on kids’ healthy physical, intellectual, and emotional development; the Institute’s scientists focusing on the complex cellular, genetic, and epigenetic roots of health and disease.

“We are so pleased to be part of the Whitehead community,” Garey says. 

Tomora adds, “We’re especially pleased to be able to provide continuing support for scientists who are thinking outside the box to address really tough biomedical challenges.”