Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have pledged $3 billion to prevent, cure, and manage diseases. This is the first move that the couple did since they announced that 99 percent of their Facebook shares will be given to charitable causes.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which is a limited liability company where the husband and wife put their Facebook shares on, announced on Wednesday that the $3 billion will be divided throughout the next decade, according to the New York Times. The purpose of which is to prevent, cure, and manage all types of diseases by the end of the century.
This is the biggest major move of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative when it comes to curing diseases and venturing into science. Chan is a doctor, and she has a big interest in health and was trained in the field of pediatrics. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has invested in charter schools and education start-ups in the past.
Chan gave a speech regarding the plans related to health at an event of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in San Francisco on Wednesday where she said that the mission of the organization is to advance human potential and promote equality. She noted, "We want to dramatically improve every life in Max's generation and make sure we don't miss a single soul." Max is short for Maxima, the first child of Zuckerberg and Chan, and she also said they will invest in basic science research to attain that.
The Chan Suckerberg Initiative wants to make it possible for large groups of scientists to focus on riskier projects, the Business Insider reports. Zuckerberg added that they can look at projects that could pay off in 20 or 50 years.
Neurobiologist Cori Bargmann will be the one leading the project. Her research in graduate school led to the first gene-targeted cancer treatments. The other goals of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is to develop tools that are geared to eradicate diseases rather than treating them and to improve as well as expand scientific funding.
The other partners of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative are Stanford University, UC San Francisco, and UC Berkeley.
