Who We Are

The Struble Foundation is named in honor of Glenn and Juanita Struble, a notable and influential couple in the Oregon community who personally dealt with the effects of heart disease and generously contributed to the advancement of medical research. They also established endowments for scholarships in Oregon schools to support the sciences and the musical arts, providing musical instruments and sheet music for students who could not otherwise afford to explore music. The Struble Foundation continues Glenn and Juanita's work of supporting heart research (see "Music for the Heart") and improving the quality of health care for patients at the end of life (see "WellSelf Retreat"). By their personal integrity, hard work, and generosity Glenn and Juanita Struble have touched the lives of many people and created the potential for great change in ways they may not have imagined. Glenn Struble died in 1993 after a lengthy struggle with heart disease. Juanita Struble currently resides in Oregon and is actively involved as a volunteer for "Music for the Heart" and an advisor to The Struble Foundation.

The Struble Foundation is a non-endowed public charity (501c3) founded in 2006 by Dr. Jeffrey Pentecost, an Oregon physician and surgeon whose clinical work experiences in geriatrics and heart research are the motivation for this Foundation. In these areas of health care he sees unanswered, increasing needs and opportunities to positively impact health for generations.

Our greatest health risk is heart disease. Dr. Jeffrey Pentecost, an osteopathic physician and surgeon practicing medicine in Oregon since 1990, is committed to finding its causes. He has been participating in heart research since 1994 where his interests pertain to fetal origins of adult heart disease; specifically, embryonic heart formation, 3D anatomical mapping of gene expression patterns, and hemodynamics in the embryonic heart. Along with his colleagues at the OHSU Heart Research Center, Dr. Pentecost has been part of the effort to better understand how conditions during embryonic development influence our heart health as adults. Through The Struble Foundation, he aims to increase public awareness of heart disease and increase financial support for leading edge heart research.

Dr. Pentecost's clinical interests are in geriatrics, long-term, and hospice care where he has come to believe that our healthcare delivery system too often falls short of meeting the medical needs of the frail elderly and those facing the end of life, a situation he believes is caused by a combination of low pay for caregivers, cut-backs in Federal and State entitlement programs, high-stress work conditions, and lack of support systems for care providers. These conditions are likely to worsen given the increased demand of the rapidly expanding proportion of individuals over the age of 65. By integrating carefully planned caregiver respite with the community's health care delivery system, Dr. Pentecost predicts a reduction in personnel turnover rates, improved quality of patient care, and reduced costs.