Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have introduced a philanthropic organization that will invest billions of dollars in the fight against various human diseases. Under the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the couple plans to invest $3 billion over the next decade.
That investment begins with $600 million that’ll be sent to Biohub, a research center at the University of California at San Francisco. Biohub will research and work on treatments for diseases.
Mark and I spent the past two years talking to scientists ranging form Nobel Prize laureates to graduate students. We believe that the future we all want for our children is possible. We set a goal: can we cure all diseases in our children’s lifetime? That does’t mean that no one will ever get sick. But it does mean that our children and their children should get sick a lot less. And that we should be able to detect and treat or at least manage it as an ongoing condition. Mark and I believe this is possible within our children’s lifetime. – Chan
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is based on the idea that conquering most diseases is possible in the next 100 years if investments like their’s are available. With the organization, the couple will invest in AI, machine learning, chip technology, and bloodstream monitors, among other things. All of those technologies can eventually help with the detection, prevention, or cure of diseases.
It’s going to take years before the first tools are built, and years after that before the first diseases are treated. We have to be patient. – Zuckerberg
Dr. Cori Bargmann, a neurologist, will lead the scientific side of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Biohub, which is led by Joe DeRisi (UCSF professor) and Stephen Quake (biophysicist, bioengineer), will first develop a “cell atlas.” With that project, the location and properties of the human body’s cells will be accounted for.
The cell atlas and other tools will be offered to the scientific community for free.
Microsoft co-founder and fellow philanthropist, Bill Gates, made an appearance at the announcement. Gates said “more science” is needed and he praised the new initiative.
