The Michelson Medical Research Foundation is a private, non-profit philanthropy founded by orthopedic spinal surgeon and inventor

Gary K. Michelson Gary K. Michelson (born January 14, 1949) is an American orthopedic surgeon, medical inventor, and billionaire philanthropist. Early life and education Michelson and his three brothers were raised in Philadelphia by his mother and grandmother, who ...

. The foundation aims to solve global health issues by promoting the development of innovative ideas in medicine and bioscience. The foundation's co-chairs are Dr. Michelson and his wife,

Alya Michelson Alya Michelson (born July 4, 1983) is a Russian-born singer, songwriter, and philanthropist. Formerly a special correspondent for Russia's international news agency, RIA Novosti, and a reporter for Vesti,she is currently the co-chair of Michelson ...

History

The Michelson Medical Research Foundation was founded in 2005 and seeded with $100 million. In 2017, the foundation, along with the Human Vaccines Project, established the Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants, a $20 million initiative to advance innovation in the field of vaccines and immunotherapies through grants. The inaugural winners of the $150,000 awards in June 2018 included the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

's Dr.

Laura Mackay Laura K. Mackay is an internationally-recognised immunologist and Professor of Immunology at the University of Melbourne. Mackay is the Theme Leader in Immunology and Laboratory Head at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity. I ...

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

's Dr. Patricia Illing, and

Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Francisco in 1858. This ...

's Dr. Ansuman Satpathy. 2022 grant winners included Dr. Noam Auslander and Dr. Brittany Hartwell of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. The 2022 Michelson Philanthropies & ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

'' Prize for Immunology was awarded to Dr. Paul Bastard. 2019 Next Generation Grant winners Dr. Murad Mamedov and Dr. Avinash Das Sahu collaborated on a study, published in August 2023, to identify how gamma-delta T cells recognize and destroy cancer cells.

Initiatives

* The USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience: Inaugurated on November 1, 2017, The USC Michelson facility—the largest research building located at the University of Southern California—provides a revolutionary environment for collaborative research. * The Michelson Entrepreneurship Award seeks to drive technological innovation in healthcare at the Wharton Startup Challenge. * The Michelson Ethical Research & Education Initiative: a partnership between the Michelson Medical Research Foundation and the

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is a non-profit research and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., which promotes a plant-based diet, preventive medicine, and alternatives to animal research, and encourages ...

aimed at ending the use of dogs and other animals in medical education and various types of medical research such as alcohol abuse research, heart failure research.

Beneficiaries

Beneficiaries of the Michelson Medical Research Foundation include: * The Human Vaccines Project. * The

. * The

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. * The

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. * The

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private Ivy League rese ...

References

{{Reflist Health charities in the United States Organizations established in 2005 Medical and health organizations based in California