By Dan Margolies

Dr. William Reed and his wife, Mary, have donated $1 million toward completion of an addition to the University of Kansas Hospital, KU announced Friday.

Reed is chairman of the hospital’s cardiovascular diseases department and helped re-establish its heart transplant program in 2012 with a $1.5 million donation. The addition, the Cambridge North Tower, is under construction just northeast of the hospital complex in Kansas City, Kan.

When completed in 2017, the 92-bed, eight-story facility will include 12 operating rooms and house two of the hospital’s fastest-growing specialties, neurosciences and surgical oncology, KU said in a news release.

So far the hospital has raised $38.6 million of the $100 million it hopes to receive from private philanthropic sources. The entire project was estimated last year to cost $279 million.

Civic leader Annette Bloch announced a $10 million challenge grant in November. Including the Reeds’ contribution, KU said it had raised nearly $5.84 million toward the challenge. The building also will include imaging and lab facilities as well as a pharmacy.

Reed, 87, and his wife donated $1 million toward construction of the hospital’s cardiovascular surgery center, which is named after them, in 2003. He recently wrote a book, “The Pulse of Hope: A Surgeon’s Memoirs from Poverty to Prosperity.”

Dan Margolies is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.