Rady Children’s Hospital will receive $120 million from its top benefactor to establish the Rady Pediatric Genomics and Systems Medicine Institute.
Ernest Rady pledged the $120 million to support pediatric research and innovation at the institute, in the largest donation made to the hospital. The Rady Children’s board of trustees has committed added another $40 million in aid in the launch of the institute.
The new research center “will assemble a team of world class scientists, researchers and clinicians who will focus their talents on preventing, diagnosing, treating and curing childhood disease through genomics and systems medicine research,” said David F. Hale, the board chairman, in a news release.
He added that the Institute will form partnerships with UC San Diego, other children’s hospitals and academic and research institutions, along with private sector companies that conduct genomics research.
“The commitment Ernest Rady and the Board has made is truly transformative,” said Dr. Donald Kearns, president of the hospital. “This Institute and gift will secure Rady Children’s place at the leading edge of research, discovery and innovation into childhood disease and injury.
Kearns said he hopes the facility sets “national and international standards for pediatric care.”
Rady said he was inspired to make the $120 million donation because “it is our responsibility to encourage the ambitious research and innovation that will accelerate the process by which discoveries are made and translated into cures.”
Hospital officials hope to capitalize on recent developments in genomics and the possibility of personalizing treatments in ways yet to be determined. They maintain the gift will allow Rady Children’s to direct Rady’s funding “to keep pace with new technology and stay on the cutting edge of genomics and systems medicine.”
The Institute is set to be located at 7910 Frost St., adjacent to Rady Children’s, and in the Torrey Pines area, near the concentration of other local research institutes.
Rady served as chair of the hospital board from 1990 to 1993. He and his wife, Evelyn, have made several major donations to Rady Children’s Hospital, including funding construction of the main entrance lobby and the second floor medical/surgical center at the Rose Pavilion, named for Dr. Max and Rose Rady, his parents.
In 2006, after a $60 million gift, the hospital board renamed the hospital after Rady.
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