UC Irvine Cancer Research Center Given $2.4 Million

In the largest private donation ever to its medical center, UC Irvine received a $2.4-million gift for cancer research Friday from an Orange County family that founded one of the nation’s largest makers of generic drugs.

UCI’s Cancer Center will be renamed the Chao Family Clinical Cancer Research Center in honor of the family, which founded Watson Pharmaceuticals in Corona. The newly named facility will become the only cancer research center in the country designated by the National Cancer Institute that bears the name of an Asian American family.

“We know cancer is a devastating disease and we are interested in getting UCI healthy, strong and able to serve the entire region,” said Allen Chao, a family spokesman and chief executive officer of the 12-year-old company. “We are making this donation as a family and on behalf of the Asian American community.”

The Chao family promised to contribute an additional $600,000 over the next several years.

Located at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, the Cancer Center is one of 54 designated by the National Cancer Institute, and the only one in Orange County. More than 100 faculty members and seven research programs are involved in the center’s projects, which range from exploring how cancer cells grow to conducting studies on patients.

UC Irvine officials said the bulk of the donation will help complete construction of the top floor of the four-story Cancer Center. Some of the money will also be used to fund cancer research.