Billionaires Sanford and Joan Weill announced Tuesday they are providing $106 million to bring together neuroscientists and researchers working in engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry, and mathematics to speed up creation of new treatments for diseases and disorders that affect the brain and nervous system.
Their money will be used to create the Weill Neurohub, a research partnership among three universities: the University of California at San Francisco, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Washington.
In addition, the Weills’ family foundation, which awarded the grant, has signed a “memorandum of understanding” with the Department of Energy to create a partnership that would allow the universities to use the federal agency’s artificial-intelligence and supercomputing systems to advance the study of traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative diseases.
With that access, researchers at the Weill Neurohub will be able to draw on the expertise and resources of the 17 laboratories overseen by the U.S. Department of Energy, including those in bioengineering, imaging, and data science.
Family Experience
This isn’t the Weills’ first big gift to support neurodegenerative disease research. In 2016 the couple gave $185 million to the University of California at San Francisco to establish the Weill Institute for Neurosciences.
When the couple announced the 2016 gift, Sanford Weill told the Chronicle that part of the reason he and his wife were giving such a large sum to the effort was that they felt the study of neurodegenerative diseases was not attracting enough philanthropic support.
They also had a personal reason: Sanford Weill saw firsthand the devastating effects of such diseases when his late mother suffered with Alzheimer’s for many years.
In addition to backing neuroscience, the Weills have given extensively to a number of other causes over the years, including cancer research, the arts, education, and human-services. They have appeared on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors eight times since 2001.
Maria Di Mento directs the annual Philanthropy 50, a comprehensive report on America’s top donors. She covers wealthy philanthropists, arts organizations, and key trends, among other topics. She recently wrote about Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropy as he considers becoming a presidential candidate. Email Maria or follow her on Twitter.
