Dear Colleagues,

UCSF is delighted to have received its largest single gift ever: a $185 million donation from Sanford I. “Sandy” Weill and Joan Weill to launch the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. This new institute will provide resources to our neuroscience researchers and physicians to advance our knowledge and treatment options for diseases affecting the brain and nervous system, including psychiatric disorders.

The gift, one of the largest ever to support neuroscience in the United States, will provide the lead investment for construction of a 270,000-square-foot building on our Mission Bay campus. This new building, the institute’s headquarters, will house state-of-the-art clinics and laboratories, including much-needed space for basic research programs in psychiatry. The UC Regents approved preliminary planning for the construction of the building last month.

The Weills’ donation also will support high-risk, high-reward research projects, as well as training for promising students in our Neuroscience Graduate Program. This institute is expected to be a magnet for attracting top scientists to UCSF, bolstering our recruitment efforts.

This gift builds on UCSF’s foundation of excellence across the spectrum of neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, and basic neuroscience and will further unite all of our programs, allowing us to think and connect in new ways. This strengthened collaboration across the neurosciences will help UCSF forge a new path toward big breakthroughs that will benefit patients and their families.

Gifts of this magnitude garner recognition for UCSF’s overall excellence, shining a brighter light on UCSF for other philanthropists and...