A division in the David Geffen School of Medicine received a $1.2 million donation to research inflammatory bowel diseases.
The Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases received a gift from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, a philanthropic organization focused on education, research and the arts, according to a university press release. Charalabos Pothoulakis, director of research at the UCLA Center for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation chair in medicine, will oversee the gift, which will fund research on the diagnosis and treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases.
Inflammatory bowel diseases involve two separate conditions, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, which both lead to inflammation and damage in the gastrointestinal tract, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The cause and cure for the disease is unknown, and it affects more than 1 million people in America.
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has previously donated to UCLA to fund scientific research. The foundation previously donated $20 million to the Broad Stem Cell Research Center in 2007 to fund both research and the Innovation Award program, which provides initial investments to stem cell research projects, according to a university press release.
The donation is a part of the UCLA Centennial Campaign, which matches outside donations toward reaching its $4.2 billion goal by December 2019.