Napster co-founder Sean Parker donated $250 million to establish a cancer research center at UCLA and five other centers nationwide, UCLA officials announced Wednesday.
Parker, chairman of the Parker Foundation, which funds several cancer research organizations, said in a press release he hopes the grant will assist the six cancer research facilities in developing immune therapies for cancer. Each institution will receive between $10 and $15 million in initial grant money to create the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.
Parker added he thinks collaboration between the centers is crucial for making new advancements in cancer research and bringing scientists closer to finding a cure.
The Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA is one of the six cancer research facilities that will collaborate with the Parker Foundation, said John Mazziotta, vice chancellor of UCLA Health Sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine in an email statement. The center aims to improve cancer treatment, diagnoses and therapies.
The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, UC San Francisco, Stanford University, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Pennsylvania are the five other recipients of the grant.