$150 million anonymously donated
to UCSF for cancer research

By Laura Dudnick

June 21, 2007

A pledge of $150 million, the largest philanthropic commitment from an individual ever given to the University of California, San Francisco, will be used to support research at UCSF's Cancer Center, the university announced today.

The gift was donated anonymously and will be used to boost UCSF's efforts to become a world leader in cancer care and a West Coast hub for experimental therapies in treating cancer patients.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S., behind only heart disease; and the National Cancer Institute estimates that one in 29 Americans are living with cancer.

Specifically, the pledge will be used to strengthen five major components of UCSF's nationally credited Cancer Center program, the statement said.

The five elements designated as priorities for research and development include experimental therapies; database development; recruitment, retention and training; patient care and support services; and "translational" research, in which UCSF will incorporate the latest advances in technology into current research.

UCSF's Cancer Center will also use the gift for the development of a world-class database system that will eventually support individualized patient therapies.

"The magnitude of this gift reflects the enormity of need for funding in both cancer research and the translation of that research into successful therapies for every patient," Frank McCormick, the Cancer Center program's director, said in the statement.

The Cancer Center is ranked first in California and sixth nationwide in National Cancer Institute research grants.

The two largest previous philanthropic pledges received, other than land, were unrelated $50 million commitments from Atlantic Philanthropies, an organization committed to helping disadvantaged people, and Genentech, Inc., a leading biotechnology research company, according to the statement.

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