$11 million gift from Clemons Family will support advanced cancer research
Gift will also aid medical innovation building construction and UCI Health — Irvine
February 18, 2025
Left to right: Anne Marie Clemons-Thomas, V. Gordon Clemons Jr., MBA ’04, and Marie Clemons stand in front of the Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building, which will feature a terrace named after their family foundation.
Credit: Steve Zylius, UC Irvine
Irvine, Calif. — The Clemons Family Foundation has pledged $11 million to support cancer research and provide capital funding for the under-construction Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building and the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care building at the UCI Health — Irvine complex on the UC Irvine campus.
“We are profoundly grateful to the Clemons family for this remarkable gift,” said Dr. Steve Goldstein, vice chancellor for health affairs. “Their commitment to advancing cancer research and vision sciences will have a lasting impact on our community and far beyond. By supporting the construction of key facilities and funding innovative research, the Clemons family is enhancing patient care now and fostering new breakthrough therapies and cures. They are invaluable partners in our mission to ‘Discover. Teach. Heal.’”
Funding innovative cancer research
Of the gift, $9 million will endow a fund for cancer research at the Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building, including the cancer metabolism, cellular immuno-oncology and precision oncology research programs under the direction of Dr. Richard Van Etten, professor of hematology/oncology and director of the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Another $1 million is earmarked to finish construction of the Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building, including naming the fifth-floor Clemons Family Foundation Terrace. Inspired by the groundbreaking work at the Center for Translational Vision Research under Dr. Krzysztof Palczewski’s leadership, the Clemons Family Foundation’s initial gift to the building catalyzed its continued partnership with UC Irvine to advance innovative research and patient care.
The final $1 million will enable completion of UCI Health — Irvine medical complex construction. On the UC Irvine campus, the Joe C. Wen & Family Center for Advanced Care and the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care buildings opened to patients in 2024, while a 144-bed acute care hospital complete with a 24-hour emergency department is scheduled to open later this year.
Calming patient infusion floor
In recognition, a 736-square-foot terrace on the fourth floor of the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center will be named the Clemons Family Outdoor Patient Infusion Area. It will extend from the infusion center to provide patients undergoing chemotherapy with a calming pre- and post-treatment space overlooking a vast naturescape of protected wetlands.
The Clemons Family Foundation is supported by a philanthropic trust of Marie Clemons of Newport Beach and her children, V. Gordon Clemons Jr., MBA ’04, and Anne Marie Clemons-Thomas. Longtime Orange County residents, they are all passionate about helping health-, technology- and community-focused organizations through the Clemons Family Foundation.
“We are on the cusp of a new era of technological innovation with the ability to rapidly advance medicine, clinical trials and care,” Marie Clemons said.
“My family and I have seen firsthand the inspiring progress being made by UC Irvine researchers and physicians in vision science and cancer. We are excited to see how new discoveries will transform healthcare for the Orange County community. Cancer touches so many individuals, and we are proud to support the university’s growth, cutting-edge research and expert care in this critical area.”
At 215,000 square feet, the Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building is slated to be among the largest interdisciplinary discovery and translational research hubs on the West Coast when completed this spring. Located in the heart of UC Irvine’s health sciences complex, at the corner of Health Sciences Road and Michael Drake Drive, the building has been meticulously designed to support collaboration across 12 high-impact research areas including cancer, neurosciences, vision and stem cells.
It will amplify opportunities for unexpected discoveries, produce more effective tools to predict and prevent illness and treat diseases, and elevate the well-being of communities and individuals in Orange County, across the state and around the world.
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