Columbia University has received a record donation of $400 million from Roy and Diana Vagelos.
Columbia University today announced it is receiving $400 million from alumni Roy and Diana Vagelos. The gift, the largest single gift ever made to Columbia University’s medical school, will be used to establish the Roy and Diana Vagelos Institute for Basic Biomedical Science.
The focus of the new institute will be on training physicians and scientists who can translate fundamental biomedical knowledge into new treatments for a wide range of diseases, including blood disorders, diseases of the immune system, cancer, metabolic disorders, and inflammatory, neurological and cardiovascular diseases.
Columbia plans for the new institute to bring together research from its basic science departments, its medical and graduate training programs, and its various clinical schools. According to the university, the intention is to “build the world’s leading ecosystem for biomedical research and attract the next generation of exceptionally creative and collaborative scientists capable of realizing this vision.”
A portion of the donation will be used to fund the medical school’s programs in cell engineering and gene therapy. In addition, the donation will also support the construction of a new biomedical research building, which will be called Vagelos Innovation Laboratories. It will be located on Columbia University’s Washington Heights medical campus and will be the first university-owned research building in New York City that does not rely on fossil fuels, according to the university.
“Diana and I want to help create an environment where generations of scientists can advance discoveries that address the most difficult problems in health and medicine,” Roy Vagelos said in a statement. “We envision this institute removing barriers for talented people to learn, collaborate, innovate, and explore the important questions in biomedicine that most excite them. This has inspired my career, and I hope we can provide the same opportunities for others.”
The new gift adds to a long list of major gifts to Columbia from Roy and Diana Vagelos. In 2021, they donated $175 million to establish the Vagelos Institute for Biomedical Research Education, which trains graduate students and physicians to translate basic biomedical discoveries into new methods of patient care.
In 2010, the couple donated $50 million to the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, funding the construction of the Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center. And in 2017, Columbia renamed its College of Physicians and Surgeons the Roy and Diana Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in recognition of a $250 million donation from the couple to the college that enabled Columbia’s medical school to become the first in the country to offer its students a debt-free education.
With their latest donation, Roy and Diana Vagelos have now given more than $900 million to Columbia University School of Medicine, making them the most generous donors in Columbia University’s history.
“The legacy of Roy and Diana Vagelos at Columbia University and in the world of philanthropic support for biomedical research and education was already well established before the announcement of this historic gift,” Katrina Armstrong, recently named interim president of Columbia University, and James M. McKiernan, interim dean of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, said in the announcement. “They are unique benefactors, guided by laudable values that have become guiding principles for our school. Their enduring commitment to education, scientific research and human health in general – and to Columbia in particular – is simply unmatched. The impact of their philanthropy will extend far beyond Columbia and will be felt for generations to come.”
Roy Vagelos is former chairman and CEO of Merck & Co. He is retired chairman of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Vagelos, who received his doctorate from Columbia University in 1954, is the author of over 100 scientific papers and has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.
Diana Vagelos is a graduate of Barnard College, where she serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees. The Diana Center, a hub of student life at Barnard College completed in 2010, is named in her honor.
Roy and Diana Vagelos have also been major benefactors of both Barnard College, to which they donated $55 million in 2022, the largest private donation in the institution’s history, and the University of Pennsylvania, where the couple’s donations helped fund several academic programs in the natural sciences.
