Ginsburgs Donate $29 Million to UCLA Health

On February 11, 2021, LA Business Journal reported, UCLA Health has received a $29 million gift from real estate developer and philanthropist Allen Ginsburg and his wife Charlotte to establish a center for precision genetic medicine, the university announced Feb. 11.

The Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Center for Precision Genomic Medicine will host researchers and physicians who will examine the role of genetics in disease and develop therapies to treat various genetic disorders.

The center intends to use the latest in CRISPR genetic engineering and other technologies to develop therapies to treat cancer, cardiovascular disease, immune disorders, and brain disorders such as autism and Parkinson’s Disease.

“Data-driven, individualized treatment is the future of medicine, and the Ginsburg Center speaks to our enduring commitment to provide patients with the best possible care,” said Johnese Spisso, president of UCLA Health and associate vice chancellor of UCLA Health Sciences.

After he retired as an ophthalmologist in 1990, Allen Ginsburg became a real estate developer and, in later years, focused on philanthropy. Charlotte Ginsburg is a benefactor of performing arts institutions. The couple lives in Palos Verdes.

Previously, the Ginsburgs have donated to rival university USC. In 2018, they donated $10 million to establish a research fund at the USC Institute for Biomedical Therapeutics. In January 2020, they gave an undisclosed amount to the USC Viterbi School of Engineering to help fund a 98,000-square-foot computer science center.

The new UCLA Health research center will be housed within the university’s Center for Precision Health, which was established in 2016 to incorporate genetic research into treatment of disease and techniques to improve health.

The Ginsburgs’ gift includes support for the most modern gene-editing technology platforms such as CRISPR to accelerate the translation of research discoveries to therapeutics.

Also planned is a new one-stop, multidisciplinary and integrated patient clinic — from diagnosis to treatment and follow-up — on the UCLA campus, near a wide range of UCLA Health’s other ambulatory clinics and Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

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