Columbia Announces Roy and Diana Vagelos Institute for Basic Medical Science
With their most recent gift, devoted alumni Dr. Roy and Mrs. Diana Vagelos have demonstrated their steadfast dedication to Columbia and lifelong commitment to improving human health and wellbeing. Thanks to their visionary generosity, the University will establish the Roy and Diana Vagelos Institute for Basic Medical Science at Columbia University, securing Columbia’s leadership in biomedical science research and education.
The Vageloses’ sustained commitment to education, scientific research, and human health in general—and to Columbia in particular—is unmatched. They deeply understand the transformative power of harnessing science and education to alleviate human suffering, which has enabled Columbia to create the world’s foremost ecosystem for biomedical research, attracting the next generation of exceptionally creative and collaborative scientists.
Dr. and Mrs. Vagelos’s latest generosity builds on their previous gifts to eliminate medical student debt, to create the Vagelos Education Center, and to bolster basic science research at Columbia. It will provide the infrastructure to unite cutting-edge research in the basic science departments, leading medical and graduate education programs, and exemplary research initiatives in the clinical departments in a new dynamic organizational model. In addition, it will help fund construction of the new biomedical research building, to be known as the Vagelos Innovation Laboratories, on the Washington Heights medical campus. This building – the very first fully-electrified, university-owned laboratory building in New York City – will provide more than 55,000 square feet of new laboratory space.
Generations of Columbians, community members, and people around the world will benefit from Dr. and Mrs. Vagelos’s extraordinary support. Learn more about the Roy and Diana Vagelos Institute for Basic Medical Science and their visionary commitment in this video.
Editor’s note: This news brief is based on an announcement from Interim President Katrina A. Armstrong, MD, and Interim Dean of Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons James M. McKiernan, MD.
