When 16-year-old Grant Virgin of Palm Desert, California, was hit
by a car, he suffered brain damage, broken bones and a torn aorta.
Doctors told his mother, author J.J. Virgin, to let her son go. Then
Virgin learned about a surgeon two hours away at Harbor-UCLA
Medical Center who could possibly save her son by repairing his
aorta. Grant Virgin was airlifted and rushed into the operating room
of Carlos Donayre, MD ’83.
S P R I N G 2018 | 15
J.J. Virgin said Donayre’s calm,
confident demeanor gave her
hope during the darkest time for
her family.
“He told us, ‘You don’t have to
worry. I’ve got this,’” she said. “I
leaned into his strength and trusted
that he would save my son.”
The trust the Virgin family placed
in Donayre paid off, and this story
is characteristic of the relationships
he shares with his patients. The
chief of vascular and endovascular
surgery and a professor of surgery
at the University of California,
Irvine, Donayre inspires patients
and colleagues alike with his
conscientious bedside manner and
innovative surgical techniques.
Donayre credits much of his
success to the education he received
at the UF College of Medicine, and
that’s why he and his wife, Sandra,
made the decision to donate
$2 million to the college as part of
their estate plans, establishing both
the Enrique Donayre Scholarship
and the Carlos E. Donayre, MD,
Professorship in Vascular Surgery
and Endovascular Surgery.
“I have much gratitude for the
University of Florida,” he said. “I
want to give back to UF for all the
opportunities I was given, and I
want to make an impact.”
The Donayres’ $1 million
scholarship, named for Carlos
Donayre’s father, will fund the
education of UF College of Medicine
students, with preference given to
students who have graduated from
a Peruvian high school or those with
parents who have graduated from
a Peruvian high school. Donayre
moved to Palm Bay, Florida, from
Peru at age 12.
“My parents lived out their
dreams through their children by
bringing us to the United States
to be educated. My brother, sister
and I fulfilled their dreams at the
University of Florida,” he said. “I
wouldn’t be who I am today if it
wasn’t for our parents’ mission.”
The Carlos E. Donayre, MD,
Professorship in Vascular Surgery
and Endovascular Surgery will
advance the work and research
of an esteemed professor in the
UF College of Medicine division of
vascular surgery and endovascular
therapy. Donayre received acclaim
in the 1990s for his work using
endovascular bifurcated grafts to
repair abdominal aortic aneurysms,
which cause the walls of the main
vessel delivering blood to the body
to swell like balloons.
Sandra Donayre calls her husband
a pioneer and a leader.
“He doesn’t do bread-and-butter
vascular surgery. He was intimately
involved with the development of
the technique of putting an aortic
graft in through the femoral artery,”
she said.
Because of Donayre’s method,
patients undergoing surgery
for abdominal aortic aneurysms
no longer have to have invasive
surgery. The slim, bifurcated stent
travels up the femoral artery of the
leg to the abdominal aorta. Donayre
said what excites him most about
his work is the opportunity to
innovate.
“I like to create and develop new
techniques that help with what
I do,” he said. “It’s a particularly
exciting time.”
Sandra Donayre describes her
husband as a committed, patientfocused
physician.
“He is warm and caring and has
a gift for relating to his patients,"
she said. “Patients tend to write
him long thank-you notes. We
probably have received 30 to 40
over the years.”
The Donayres live in Rancho
Palos Verdes, California, in
southwest Los Angeles County. The
couple has four children, ages 10
to 27, whose endeavors range from
finance to education to theater.
Their youngest daughter aspires
to study veterinary medicine at UF.
As some of their children have left
home to begin their adult lives,
the Donayres felt it was the right
time to provide support for future
generations of physicians who are
beginning their journeys at the UF
College of Medicine.
“Both of us strive to live a
purposeful life. Purpose to us
means to think outside of
ourselves,” Sandra Donayre said.
“My husband’s legacy will be
reflected in the many people he
helps become physicians through
his influence and his philanthropy.”