5K race honoring woman's dad who died from COVID raises $12K for research

In November, ABC13 profiled Krista Patlovich and the touching way she was celebrating her late father.

Nick Georgas was an avid runner, who died in December 2020 from COVID-19 related complications. To honor the man they called Papou, Patlovich helped organize the inaugural Papou's 5k. Proceeds from the Dec. 11 race at No Label Brewing Company in Katy, would be donated to COVID research.

Thanks to nearly 200 runners taking part in Papou's 5k - $12,000 will be donated to Houston's UT Health Science Center.

"This kind of activity is incredibly valuable," said Dr. Luis Ostrosky, an infectious disease specialist with UTHealth Houston."Because of the way biomedical sciences funding works, big grants help tackle huge projects."

Ostrosky, who leads research at the UTHealth Houston COVID-19 Center of Excellence, explained that "grants from pharmaceutical companies tackle medium-sized projects, but they're defined by their priorities - not really ours, necessarily. So, grassroots community donations like this help us tackle small but very important questions that would otherwise not be funded. This kind of funding, for example, will help us look into antibody testing."