The couple decided a year ago to donate 99% of their wealth, which at the time was valued at more than 45 billion dollars (£34.7 billion), to the Chan Zuckerberg philanthropic ventures. This is about the future we all want for our children.
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The couple spoke one after the other at the UCSF Mission Bay campus to unveil the next phase of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, their new LLC created with the sole objective of giving away billions and billions of dollars over their lifetimes.
Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have pledged more than $3 billion toward a plan to “cure, prevent or manage all disease within our children’s lifetime”.
Pricilla Chan (R) and her husband Mark Zuckerberg announce the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to “cure, prevent or manage all disease” by the end of the century during a news conference at UCSF Mission Bay in San Francisco, California, U.S. September 21, 2016.
According to the couple, the project will fund a $600 million research center in San Francisco called the Biohub, in a partnership with the University of California, San Francisco, Stanford University and Berkeley.
At UCSF, Chan spoke about the future that everyone wants for their kids and how we can set goals to cure all diseases in “our children’s lifetime”.
Zuckerberg said the funding would bring scientists and engineers together, build tools and technology needed to help fight disease and also grow the movement to fund science.
The Biohub is the first major investment from the couple, who announced in December 2015 that they would give away 99% of their wealth.
“We’ll be investing in basic science research with the goal of curing disease”, Chan explained.
The couple pledged the money as the next big investment by their philanthropic company, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which is also focused on education, poverty, and equality. “I’ve been with families where we’ve hit the limit of what’s possible through medicine and science”, Chan said.
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“We can do better than that”, he said. “It’s awesome they are taking on another bold challenge”, said Microsoft founder-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates, whom Zuckerberg described him as a “role model and mentor”. “Together, we have a real shot at leaving the world a better place for our children than we found it”, Zuckerberg added.
