$20 million new gift from the David Koch Jr. Foundation will fund new glomerular kidney center at university
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons announced that it will establish the David Koch Jr. Glomerular Kidney Center with a $20 million gift from the David Koch Jr. Foundation.
Gerald Appel, MD, will serve as the center’s inaugural co-director. Dr. Appel, a professor of medicine, created the nation’s first academic research, clinical, and medical education program focused on glomerular diseases at Columbia in 2000. He will share co-director duties with Andrew Bomback, MD, an associate professor of medicine and glomerular diseases expert.
The center will offer care to patients with glomerular diseases, including those referred by other kidney specialists, and will expand education and training in glomerular diseases for medical professionals through a fellowship program.
The center will also focus on advancing research in the tradition of previous Columbia physician-scientists, who established nonchemotherapy-based regimens for lupus nephritis, formulated diagnostic criteria for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and C3 glomerulopathy, and utilized complement-based therapies as disease-targeting agents.
The David H. Koch Foundation is committed to advancing the philanthropic legacy of David H. Koch, enriching the lives of individuals around the world through science and medical research, education, public policy, and the arts.
Julia Koch serves on the boards of Koch Industries, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Venetian Heritage.
Among a long list of important gifts, Julia and David Koch gave a $10 million gift to establish a new unit at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford for clinical research. The unit operates within the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University, which is home to the groundbreaking allergy and asthma clinical trials led by Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD.
Some of the important causes that benefitted from the Koch family’s philanthropy are:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Smithsonian Institution
Deerfield Academy
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Hospital for Special Surgery
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Johns Hopkins University
American Museum of Natural History
American Ballet Theatre
Prostate Cancer Foundation
Columbia University Division of Nephrology
WGBH
Mount Sinai Medical Center
Stanford University
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Rockefeller University
Institute for Humane Studies
House Ear Institute
National Geographic Society
Cornell
Institute for Justice
Library of Congress
Children’s Hospital Boston
Ancient Egypt Research Association
Bill of Rights Institute
African Wildlife Foundation
New York City Opera
Pacific Research Institute
American Friends of the National Gallery
Competitive Enterprise Institute
George Mason University
Institute of Human Origins / ASU Foundation
Cambridge College
Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research
Massachusetts Eye & Ear
In Kind Donations:
Food Allergy Initiative
Aspen Institute
School of American Ballet
9/11 Memorial and Museum
Columbia University Medical Center
WETA TV – Cancer: The Emperor of all Maladies
Julia gave a $3 million gift to NYU Langone for the Julia Flesher Koch Professorship of Orthopedic Surgery, which supports innovative programs in clinical care, education and research.
Julia gave a $1.4 million gift to NYU to establish the Julia Koch Endowed Scholarship that supports the full tuition of at least one student at a time throughout his or her medical training. Combined with the gifts of others, this allows NYU School of Medicine to become the first tuition-free medical school in the country.
A devoted patron of the arts, Julia previously served on the Board of Directors for the School of American Ballet where she annually chaired two of the school’s most popular and significant benefits: Nutcracker Family Benefit and Winter Ball.
Through the years, Julia has also chaired events for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Food Allergy Initiative (now Food Allergy Research & Education) and American Ballet Theater.