Dolly Parton Donates $1M to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for COVID-19 Research

Legendary singer and songwriter Dolly Parton is helping in the fight against the ravaging coronavirus pandemic by donating $1M to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for research on the virus.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage every part of the world, most notably the United States, which now has the highest number of confirmed cases for the virus.

However, there continues to be a fight against the deadly virus, with more people doing their bit to curtail the spread and find a lasting solution. There have been donations made to the needy as well as to medical institutions and charities.

Legendary singer Dolly Parton is joining forces against COVID-19 by donating a million dollars to the Medical Center of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

The donation is to aid the University's Medical Center in their research to find a cure to the coronavirus pandemic. The "Jolene" singer shared the news of her donation with her fans on Instagram, adding a red heart emoji caption to an image that read:

"My longtime friend Dr. Naji Abumrad... informed me that they were making some exciting advancements towards the research of the coronavirus for a cure."

Going further, Dolly Parton said that she'd be donating a million dollars to the University towards the research, and encouraged other people who could afford to, to also make donations to the cause.

She signed off her message with the words, "Keep the faith." Many of the 74-year-old's followers, including her friends, commended her for the kind gesture, leaving her with words of support.

Actress Reese Witherspoon said that Dolly Parton never ceases to amaze her with her generosity and her incredible spirit, while Karen Fairchild noted that the iconic singer was the best, and thanked her.

It will be recalled that Vanderbilt University Medical Center had, on March 23, announced that it had begun researching antibody therapies for coronavirus. The director of the Medical Center's Vaccine Center, Dr. James Crowe, said:

"We have ultra-rapid antibody discovery technologies and already have discovered SARS-CoV-2 antibodies."

Crowe added that the hospital's partners had the manufacturing and product development expertise to quickly turn the antibodies into biological drugs that would be effective against the virus.

Dolly Parton is regarded, by many, as a generous person and the singer loves to see herself as such, and also wants the world to remember her as a kind, giving person.

The "Coat of Many Colors" singer comes from a humble background, having grown up in the poor neighborhood of Tennessee's Smoky Mountains, but has never been ashamed of her upbringing.

It is that upbringing that has inspired the singer to do many of the things she has done, most notably her charity, the Imagination Library, which she founded to help in educating as many young children as possible.