Columbia University announced today a new $400 million gift from Roy and Diana Vagelos, which will secure Columbia's leadership in biomedical science research and education and produce a vast array of compelling opportunities for improving society's health and wellbeing. The gift is the single largest ever made to Columbia's medical school and, taken together with their previous giving, establishes Roy and Diana as the most generous donors in the history of Columbia University. A principal function of this gift will be to significantly expand the mission of the Vagelos-funded institute created in 2023.
The Roy and Diana Vagelos Institute for Basic Biomedical Science will now provide the infrastructure to unite cutting-edge research taking place in Columbia's basic science departments, its leading medical and graduate education programs, and the exemplary research initiatives in its clinical departments in a new dynamic organizational model. By assembling this mix of mutually reinforcing activities, we seek to build the world's foremost ecosystem for biomedical research and to attract the next generation of exceptionally creative and collaborative scientists able to realize this vision. The gift announced today also will support construction of the new biomedical research building, to be known as the Vagelos Innovation Laboratories, at 167th Street and Audubon Avenue, on the Washington Heights medical campus.
This facility will provide more than 55,000 square feet of new labor.