Kansas City, Mo. (Dec. 31, 2008) –David A. Welte, who played a pivotal role in the creation of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and the Stowers Group of Companies, will resume his role as in-house General Counsel on January 1, 2009.

     Mr. Welte has consistently served as the Institute’s General Counsel since 1994, most recently at Bryan Cave, LLP and previously at the law firm he co-founded, which was then named Polsinelli Shalton Welte Suelthaus.

     “David has served as a trusted advisor to Jim and Virginia Stowers and our leadership team since the inception of the Institute,” said Richard W. Brown, Co-Chairman of the Institute’s Board of Directors. “David’s full-time advice and counsel will remain invaluable.”

     “I have worked almost exclusively on behalf of the Institute and Stowers Group of Companies at both Bryan Cave and Polsinelli,” Mr. Welte said. “As the organizations continue to grow and evolve, it makes sense for me to rejoin the Institute on a day-to-day, full-time basis.

     Bryan Cave LLP will continue to serve as the Institute’s outside counsel and there will be no change in the team of legal advisors.

     Mr. Welte has held a number of leadership positions in the Greater Kansas City civic community. He is currently a member of both the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City board of directors. Welte previously served as co-chairman of the Kansas City Area Development Council, President of Brush Creek Community Partners, a member of the Board of Trustees and Audit Committee of Midwest Research Institute and a member of the Missouri Bar Board of Governors.

     Mr. Welte received his Juris Doctorate in 1968 from Loyola University-Chicago. He was admitted to the Missouri Bar in 1968, the bars of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit in 1982, Tenth Circuit in 1985 and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982.

About the Stowers Institute for Medical Research
     Housed in a 600,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility on a 10-acre campus in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research is home to 22 independent research teams, three technology centers, nine research support facilities, and more than 400 members who have assembled in Kansas City from across the nation and 20 + countries around the world.

     The Institute's laboratory leaders include recipients of some of the world's most prestigious scientific awards and honors. Among them are: four elected Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; one current and two previous Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators; an American Cancer Society Research Professor; six researchers recognized by the Nature Publishing Group for milestone discoveries in their fields of research; seven March of Dimes Basil O'Connor Scholars; two Pew Scholars; a Searle Scholar; a recipient of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences; a Klingenstein Fellow; and a recipient of the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award.