Denny Sanford, a visionary philanthropist, played a pivotal role in the early success of our organization. In 2008, he contributed $30 million to the then-emerging San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine. His transformative gift provided the essential matching funds required to secure a $43 million facilities grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. This funding enabled the construction of the state-of-the-art

Sanford Collaboratory.
 

In honor of his extraordinary generosity, the Consortium was proudly renamed the

Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine.

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T. Denny Sanford is a distinguished philanthropist whose extraordinary generosity has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to initiatives in healthcare and education—most notably, to accelerate the advancement

of stem cell research.

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Beyond his pivotal support for the Sanford Consortium, Mr. Sanford made a landmark commitment in 2013 with a $100 million gift to establish the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center at the University of California, San Diego. This center was created to fast-track the development of stem cell–based drugs and therapies by promoting and conducting clinical trials that translate research breakthroughs into real-world treatments.

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Furthering his commitment, in 2022 Mr. Sanford donated an additional $150 million to establish the UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute. This historic investment—UC San Diego’s largest single gift—will fuel efforts to realize the full therapeutic potential of human stem cells in treating a wide range of diseases and conditions.

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“This investment enables the team to dream beyond what is possible,” said Mr. Sanford.

“The sky is no longer the limit.”