Irvine, Calif., Oct. 1, 2024 — Dr. Robert A. Mah and Dr. Adeline Yen Mah and their Falling Leaves Foundation are giving $20 million more to the University of California, Irvine to provide support for the Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building and centers to be located in the state-of-the-art medical research facility, which will expand the global reach and impact of the campus’s advanced cross-disciplinary teaching and translational research achievements.

This pledge follows a $30 million lead gift from the Mahs and the Falling Leaves Foundation in 2021, bringing their total support for the building and its programs to $53 million. They established the Falling Leaves Foundation in 2007.

The approximately 200,000-square-foot Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building will be one of the largest in the West and will provide optimal space for laboratories to extend advances in medicine and the health sciences and instruction. The research facility is set to open in the summer of 2025.

“We are honored to serve as the stewards of Robert and Adeline Mah’s vision of innovative and transformational medical innovation,” said Chancellor Howard Gillman. “Our preeminence in conducting basic, translational and clinical research dedicated to the discovery of new medical and scientific knowledge is enhanced by their enduring generosity.”

“We are profoundly grateful to Robert and Adeline Mah for their extraordinary second gift to the Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building. Their vision and unwavering commitment to pioneering, interdisciplinary research is a catalyst for groundbreaking innovations that will fundamentally transform the future of medicine, health and wellness,” said Steve Goldstein, MD, PhD, FAAP, vice chancellor for health affairs.

The new gift will support the construction of the Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building and will establish endowed research funds for two centers of excellence: the Molecular Innovation Center and the Vaccine Center.

The Molecular Innovation Center, under the direction of Andrej Luptak, professor and chair of pharmaceutical sciences, will be located on the second floor of the Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building and will pursue next-generation drug design and therapeutics for cancer, neurodegenerative conditions, viral and bacterial infections, childhood diseases and other maladies.

The Vaccine Center, led by Philip Felgner, professor in residence of physiology & biophysics, will also be located on the second floor of the Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building. The center aims to safeguard vulnerable populations against future pathogens through research advancements in vaccine science, immunotherapies and the development of new mRNA, DNA and protein vaccines. Felgner is internationally renowned for his work on vaccine development, and he received Spain’s prestigious Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research in recognition of his contributions to designing COVID-19 vaccines. 

In honor of their gift, the centers will be named the Robert A. Mah Molecular Innovation Center and the Adeline Yen Mah Vaccine Center.

“We envisage our building to be a nexus connecting basic science, biotechnology and medicine. Its modern architecture and high-speed testing labs will foster collaboration and innovation and create a workplace that will help uncover ‘the infinite wonders of Nature’,” Adeline Yen Mah said.

About the Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building

The Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building is set in UC Irvine’s health sciences district along Michael Drake Drive, and it will include state-of-the-art, well-equipped wet laboratories and meeting spaces to foster groundbreaking research and the training of future investigative pioneers. Teams from diverse disciplines will strategically collaborate to drive innovations that bring novel insights and new treatments to help communities thrive.

The cutting-edge space will enable UC Irvine to recruit and retain high-profile faculty and launch promising careers for basic, translational and clinically trained scientists. It will allow students to learn alongside these researchers and physician-scientists on floors dedicated to specific health issues, including cancer, neuroscience and drug discovery. Findings revealed in these laboratories will be transformed into more effective tools to predict and prevent illness and treat disease, elevating healthcare in Orange County and around the world.

Fulfilling a dream

While Robert Mah, a professor emeritus at UCLA, taught environmental microbiology and Dr. Adeline Mah practiced internal medicine and anesthesiology during their professional careers, it was their dream to do medical research together. In UC Irvine, they found the ideal partner to transform their vision into creative realities.

The Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building will join the Susan & Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences and Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing and Health Sciences Hall in the growing Health Sciences district, which is only a mile away from the UCI Health – Irvine medical complex. Several established research facilities are also located in the district, including the Biomedical Research Center, which houses UC Irvine institutes and centers where groundbreaking work is conducted in neurosciences, stem cell biology, genomics and proteomics, precision health, AI and data science, and infectious diseases.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is ranked among the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 224 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $7 billion annually to the local economy and $8 billion statewide. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu.

About the Falling Leaves Foundation: The Falling Leaves Foundation was established in 2007 by Professor Robert A. Mah and Dr. Adeline Yen Mah. Its mission is to promote research and understanding of recent advances in medical science. Medicine is at the threshold of a new era because of a better basic understanding of RNA functions and its applications in technology. RNA plays a key role in nearly every biological pathway. Coupled with genome editing tools such as Crispr, every disease will be treatable. Falling Leaves Foundation will contribute towards the fundamental conceptual understanding of these processes and to the applied research and development of this type of innovative technology.

About UCI’s Brilliant Future campaign: Publicly launched on Oct. 4, 2019, the Brilliant Future campaign aims to raise awareness and support for UCI. By engaging 75,000 alumni and garnering $2 billion in philanthropic investment, UCI seeks to reach new heights of excellence in student success, health and wellness, research and more. Learn more by visiting brilliantfuture.uci.edu.

About UC Irvine Health Affairs: UC Irvine Health Affairs is a $4.5 billion enterprise that includes the Susan & Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, featuring schools of medicine, nursing, pharmacy and public health. It encompasses renowned research centers and institutes, and UCI Health, the only academic healthcare delivery system in Orange County. Ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report for 23 years, UCI Health has over 1,300 licensed beds and serves over 4 million residents across Orange and Los Angeles counties. With more than 15,000 faculty and staff, UC Irvine Health Affairs embraces a distinctive One Health approach that unites the health disciplines to amplify their combined strengths to provide patient-centered, team-based, data-directed, whole-person care and fulfill its mission: Discover. Teach. Heal. For more information, visit healthaffairs.uci.edu.

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