The University of California, San Francisco has received the largest bequest ever made to the campus. The $48 million estate gift will benefit pulmonary medicine research and care.
The bequest, from the estate of Nina Ireland, a long-time supporter of UCSF, will further the university's leadership in studying and treating a host of complex pulmonary conditions, including interstitial lung disease (ILD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
The pulmonary medicine research and care program is led by Jeffrey A. Golden, MD, UCSF professor of medicine and surgery, Medical Director of Lung Transplantation, Director of Clinical Research, Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) Program, and Director of the Nina Ireland Lung Disease Center.
Ireland passed away on Oct. 7, 2010. Her gifts to UCSF spanned three decades, enabling the university to establish the Nina Ireland Laboratory of Developmental Biology, the Nina Ireland Distinguished Professorship in Pulmonary Medicine and the Nina Ireland Distinguished Professorship in Child Psychiatry.
"We are profoundly grateful for Ms. Ireland's extraordinary generosity to UCSF," said School of Medicine Dean Sam Hawgood. "Her sustained investment in this institution has led to pioneering advances in human health and her final contribution promises to bring about fundamental progress in the field of pulmonary medicine."
The UCSF Pulmonary and Critical Care Division provides comprehensive medical care for the community, develops innovative research aimed at elucidating basic mechanisms of the disease, and translates its research activities into both new clinical initiatives and a rich training environment for the next generation of academic physician scientists.
With 42 faculty members, the Division is comprised of three hospital sites, each of which emphasize different aspects of pulmonary disease research and care for patients with the disease. The Division also is closely linked to the Cardiovascular Research Institute and the Immunology Graduate Program on the Parnassus campus and the Lung Biology Center on the San Francisco General Hospital campus.
UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.