About

Mission and History

in this section

Mission

Our mission is to discover the molecular and cellular mechanisms that establish and renew the body’s organ systems and to apply these discoveries to treating disease. We build and share an understanding of stem cells and regenerative medicine through research, collaboration and education.

History

“This will hopefully be the anchor of a new biomedical corridor in the region, where the nation’s most cutting-edge research is conducted by some of the brightest minds in science.” -Eli Broad

In February 2006, Eli and Edythe Broad created the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC with a $30 million gift to the Keck School of Medicine. Along with $27 million in public funding from the state’s stem cell funding agency, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the Broad’s visionary investment laid the foundation for stem cell research at USC.

The Broads also funded two other stem cell centers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, San Francisco, and provided the founding support for the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Eli Broad was a renowned business leader, who built two Fortune 500 companies: SunAmerica Inc. and KB Home (formerly Kaufman and Broad Home Corporation).

In 1999, Eli and Edythe Broad decided to turn their lifelong commitment to philanthropy into their lives’ work, focusing their investments on K–12 public schools, access to the arts, and scientific and medical research. These areas held special significance for them as graduates of Detroit public schools, collectors and champions of art and architecture, and parents of a son who struggles with an incurable disease.

Eli Broad passed away in 2021, and The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation continues his legacy as a philanthropic leader in education, art and science.

The Keck School is grateful for the Broads’ support of biomedical research in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, as well as their many other transformative philanthropic investments.