Venture capitalist and University of Southern California (USC) alumnus Mark Stevens has provided a $50m donation to his alma mater to support the development of the institution’s brain research institute.
The unit will be renamed in honour of Stevens and his wife, Mary, as the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute. Launched two years ago, the institute current employs a team of 130 people which are researching therapies for conditions such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s.
The donation marks the third made by Stevens into USC. The Sequoia Capital veteran, worth $1.7bn, previously donated $24m for the Stevens Centre for Innovation, and also provided $10m for the Stevens Academic Centre. The gift comes amid a campaign by USC to raise $6bn through donations launched four years ago. Its total now stands at $4bn.
Mark Stevens, who also sits of USC’s board of trustees, said: “The field of neuroscience represents the next great frontier of medical research in the 21st century. Consequently, we believe that the tremendously talented team and the interdisciplinary nature of the institute’s work will yield meaningful understanding of this frontier in the future.”
