Key findings
- UCLA has received a $120 million commitment from surgeon and inventor Dr. Gary Michelson and his wife Alya for the new California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy.
- The donation will be used to establish two research facilities within the institute: one will focus on rapid vaccine development, the other on using the microbiome to promote human health.
- In addition, the money will fund a foundation that awards research grants to young scientists who are using novel methods to advance immunotherapy research, human immunology and vaccine discovery.
UCLA has received a $120 million commitment from surgeon, inventor and philanthropist Dr. Gary Michelson and his wife, Alya, to establish the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, an innovative public-private partnership dedicated to advancing breakthrough discoveries to prevent and cure disease and spur economic growth and innovation in Los Angeles.
Michelson, a spine surgeon and prolific inventor who holds nearly 1,000 individual patents, is co-founder and chairman of the institute, which will be housed in UCLA’s state-of-the-art research park.
The donation, distributed through the Michelson Medical Research Foundation, provides $100 million to establish two research facilities within the institute, each funded with $50 million. One will focus on rapid vaccine development and the other on harnessing the microbiome to improve human health. The microbiome research will be conducted in collaboration with the new UCLA Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center, making it one of the largest microbiome research enterprises in the world.
In addition, the foundation, which is part of the Michelson Philanthropies network of foundations chaired by the Michelsons, funds a $20 million endowment to award research grants to young scientists using novel techniques to advance immunotherapy research, human immunology and vaccine discovery.
“The UCLA community is grateful to Alya and Gary Michelson for this transformative gift,” said UCLA Interim Chancellor Darnell Hunt. “The Michelsons envisioned an institute that would leverage UCLA’s strengths for the greater good, create new knowledge that would lead to better medical treatments, and reshape the study of immunology. This gift will change countless lives here and around the world.”
“Immunology is the mediator of nearly all human disease, whether it’s cancer, heart disease or Alzheimer’s,” Michelson said. “The vision of this institute is to become a ‘field of dreams’ – the world’s leading center for immune system research to develop advanced immunotherapies that can prevent, treat and cure all the diseases that plague humans today, and to eradicate these diseases in our lifetimes.”
“Scientific research is the key to longer, healthier lives,” he added. “That is why Alya and I are making this philanthropic investment. There is no place we could make an investment that will have a deeper impact on so many people. We are deeply grateful to former UCLA Chancellor Gene Block for his steadfast leadership; Interim Chancellor Darnell Hunt for his continued partnership; Dr. John Mazziotta of UCLA Health for his dedication and hard work; Governor Gavin Newsom, former House Speaker Anthony Rendon and former Senate President pro tempore Toni Atkins for their visionary trust; the UC Board of Regents; and my co-founders for their unwavering support of this ambitious endeavor to build the premier institute for scientific research and innovation.”
Photo illustration: David Esquivel and Suzannah Mathur/UCLA
The California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy will be housed in the UCLA Research Park on the site of the former Westside Pavilion shopping center. The iThe innovative public-private partnership aims to advance groundbreaking discoveries that prevent and cure disease and spur economic growth and innovation in Los Angeles.
The institute was co-founded by Meyer Luskin, Dr. Eric Esrailian, Dr. Arie Belldegrun, Michael Milken and Sean Parker. At 360,000 square feet, it will be the primary occupant of the 700,000 square foot UCLA Research Park, located on the site of the former Westside Pavilion. UCLA’s acquisition of the property, 2 miles from the Westwood campus, in January 2024 was made possible in part by a $200 million grant from the State of California.
Former UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, who resigned on July 31 after 17 years at the helm of the university, played a central role in coordinating the acquisition of the Westside Pavilion property and efforts to bring the California Institute for Immunology and Immunetherapy to UCLA.
“I am incredibly excited to see the institute take shape – thanks in large part to the work and contributions of the Michelsons and our other partners – and I remain firmly convinced that UCLA and Los Angeles will be the perfect home for it,” Block said. “The institute exemplifies UCLA’s ongoing commitment to using scientific research for the public good, and it will cement our university’s position as one of the world’s leading centers for medical innovation.”
“The California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy at UCLA’s Research Park is further proof that California continues to be the epicenter of global innovation – an endeavor that will benefit California, the United States and the world,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom. “This incredible generosity from Alya and Gary Michelson, coupled with Gary’s prolific work over the years as a leading innovator in the medical field, perfectly embodies the California spirit and will help ensure our state’s global economic, scientific and technological dominance for decades to come.”
“The opening of the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy demonstrates what is possible through collaboration,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. “When we come together to make investments like this, we create opportunities for groundbreaking research that has the potential to fundamentally change health outcomes around the world and create good jobs in Los Angeles. I want to thank Dr. Gary Michelson and Alya Michelson for this move that will have a positive impact on Los Angeles residents and people around the world for decades to come.”
The institute will be operated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit medical research organization and governed by an independent board of directors that includes representatives from UCLA. The Michelsons’ $120 million donation will be donated to the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, which will use the funds to support research at the institute.
Leveraging an unprecedented mix of public investment, philanthropic funding and UCLA’s strengths in clinical care and scientific research, the institute is designed to be an agile, interdisciplinary, highly collaborative network of research institutions that, in partnership with the private sector, will accelerate the development and delivery of new medicines and treatments to patients.
The institute will recruit leading scientists from around the world, create an integrated ecosystem of biotechnology startups, and train the next generation of leading medical researchers. As a center of biomedical collaboration, the institute and the biomedical companies it produces will be an economic engine for the region and the state.
“I am grateful to Alya and Gary and their co-founders. Their vision and support of the institute is a vote of confidence in our ability to work together to cure some of the most devastating diseases,” said Dr. John Mazziotta, UCLA’s vice chancellor for health sciences and CEO of UCLA Health.
This gift is the Michelsons’ largest single donation in over 30 years of philanthropy. The couple has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to fight social inequalities and support medical research, education reform, prison reform and animal welfare. Among other projects, they fund the annual Michelson Prizes for Immunology and Vaccine Research.
In 2016, the Michelsons signed The Giving Pledge, a campaign launched by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that encourages the wealthiest individuals and families to donate the majority of their wealth to charity.
