$75 million gift from Tom Golisano launches groundbreaking for healthcare, education, and research campus for inclusive care and innovation
In a significant step for healthcare, education, and research in upstate New York, philanthropist and Paychex founder Tom Golisano has announced a $75 million campus in Rochester to advance care and inclusion for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
The project is poised to become a national model for how clinical practice, education, and research can converge to transform outcomes for people with IDD and their families.
The proposed initiative would bring together two leading institutions under one roof: the new University of Rochester Golisano Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Institute and the Mary Cariola Center School.
Co-location brings educators, clinicians, and researchers together to strengthen collaboration and break down barriers that have fragmented the IDD support services system.
The comprehensive campus plan is backed entirely by Golisano’s existing philanthropic commitments: a $50 million investment to establish the University of Rochester institute and a $25 million gift to support Mary Cariola’s relocation and integration. University officials confirmed that Marketplace Mall, already home to the university’s innovative Orthopedics & Physical Performance Center, is under active evaluation as the preferred site, with due diligence now underway.
“This has always been about building something bigger than a facility,” Golisano said in announcing the project. “By bringing these organizations together, we are creating an environment where education, research, clinical care, and family services work hand in hand.”
At its core, the new campus aims to create a unified ecosystem serving individuals with IDD from early childhood through adulthood. The long-term vision is to integrate extensive educational programs with state-of-the-art clinical care and real-time research applications.
Leaders say the model will enhance coordinated care for families navigating complex support systems, accelerate the translation of research into therapies, expand workforce training in high-demand specialties, and strengthen educational outcomes by aligning more closely with clinical expertise.
Erica Dayton, executive director of the Golisano Foundation, emphasized that the initiative’s greatest power lies in its intentional cross-disciplinary design. “When professionals learn together, work together, and train together alongside individuals with IDD, outcomes improve,” she said. “This proposed campus creates a model where innovation and access are built into the structure itself.”
For Mary Cariola Center, a century-old leader in providing specialized education and support for children and youth with complex disabilities, this opportunity is a transformative next step. Karen Zandi, the organization’s president and CEO, said sharing space with the university’s clinical and research operations will “create opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and impact.” She added, “By working side by side with leading researchers, clinicians, and therapists, we are strengthening our collective ability to develop solutions that improve lives. This project reaffirms our commitment to advance inclusion, dignity, and scientific discovery together.”
The initiative builds on decades of collaboration between the University of Rochester Medical Center and Mary Cariola Center. Their longstanding partnership includes shared clinical services through Golisano Children’s Hospital and joint research efforts through the university’s Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience.
John Foxe, who holds the Killian J. and Caroline F. Schmitt Chair of Neuroscience and directs the Del Monte Institute, will serve as the inaugural director of the new Golisano IDD Institute. “Tom’s investments have already reshaped how this region—and indeed the world—approaches care for individuals with IDD,” Foxe said. “We are working hard to leverage his vision to create the world’s leading IDD institute, one that stands as an enduring model for coordination and excellence.”
Golisano’s latest initiative reinforces his enduring commitment to accessibility, compassion, and systems-level change. With this new investment, Rochester once again becomes the focal point of a national movement—one driven by the belief that every individual, regardless of ability, deserves the opportunity to thrive.