(Bloomberg) -- Columbia University, reeling from the abrupt resignation of its president last week, said it will receive a $400 million donation to its medical school to fund biomedical research.
The gift from Roy and Diana Vagelos is the largest single contribution to the New York City medical school. The money will help establish the Roy and Diana Vagelos Institute for Basic Biomedical Science.
Roy Vagelos, 94, an alumnus of the medical school, is the former chief executive officer of Merck & Co. He made his fortune in the pharmaceutical industry, also serving as chairman of biotech company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. until last year. Diana Vagelos graduated from Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia.
The donation brings the couple’s total gifts to the medical school, which bears their name, to $900 million, making them the most generous donors in Columbia University’s history, the school said in a statement Thursday.
Columbia University was rocked on Aug. 14 — three weeks before the start of the fall semester — when President Minouche Shafik announced her resignation after a tumultuous period sparked by protests over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The simmering tensions erupted in the spring as pro-Palestinian protesters set up encampments, ultimately leading Shafik to call in police to remove them.
She was replaced on an interim basis by Katrina Armstrong, CEO of Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
“Their latest gift will allow us to build the world’s foremost ecosystem for biomedical research and to attract the next generation of exceptionally creative and collaborative scientists,” Armstrong said in the statement.
Columbia said Roy Vagelos worked closely with the medical school leadership over the past decade on the previously funded efforts and began working with Armstrong on the latest gift when she arrived two years ago.
The new institute will train physician-scientists in methods for transforming the latest scientific discoveries into new therapies for patients, and support research into therapies for conditions including blood and immune system disorders, cancers, metabolic disorders and more.
Columbia isn’t the only university to benefit recently from the Vagelos’ largesse. The University of Pennsylvania earlier this year announced an $84 million gift from the couple. Penn’s former president, Liz Magill, had resigned in December after criticism of how the school handled the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Hamas is labeled a terrorist group by the US and European Union.
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