Oracle Founder Donates $200 Million for USC Cancer Research

LOS ANGELES, CA - Oracle Corp. founder and Chairman Larry Ellison has donated $200 million toward the creation of a cancer research institute at USC - - a gift that the university's president call "as inspirational as it is momentous."

The donation will be used to establish the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC, a new center that USC says will combine interdisciplinary research with the holistic prevention and treatment of cancer. It will be led by David B. Agus, a professor at USC's Keck School of Medicine and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

The gift will provide the lead investment for a state-of-the-art facility in west Los Angeles that will serve as the Ellison Institute’s home, according to an article on the USC website. The building will house interdisciplinary cancer research laboratories focused on scientific discovery and innovation.

Clinical advances will focus on transforming cancer treatment through technology and an interactive care clinic that offers patients world-class healthcare, according to USC. The institute’s environment will include a think tank, education and outreach, and a wellness program.

"This investment by Larry Ellison in USC is as inspirational as it is momentous, and it will serve as a dynamic force for change in how we approach cancer treatment and prevention," said USC President C. L. Max Nikias. "It is a concrete endorsement of USC’s vision to invest in the promise and potential of new technologies, and to support a bold push forward in how we achieve wellness."

The gift matched what until now had been USC's biggest.

City News Service