UCSF Receives Major Gift to Advance Research and Modernization

UC San Francisco has received a $100 million commitment from longtime supporters Kathy Chiao and Kenneth (Ken) Hao to address its most urgent capital needs and accelerate innovation to advance human health.

The investment will enable UCSF to seize emerging opportunities across its mission, with $50 million supporting capital projects, $40 million advancing innovation initiatives aligned with evolving priorities, and $10 million dedicated to the Weill Cancer Hub West, a UCSF-Stanford collaboration that is driving new discoveries in cancer research and treatment.

“Ken and Kathy have been extraordinary partners to UCSF for many years, and this remarkable gift comes at a pivotal moment,” said UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS. “Their generosity gives us the flexibility to expand our hospitals and accelerate the most promising and innovative work when it matters most.”

The university’s capital priorities include modernization of the century-old Parnassus Heights campus, featuring a new, state-of-the-art UCSF Health Helen Diller Hospital, as well as a new hospital building as part of the modernization of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. The Oakland project will add 104 inpatient beds, including a much-needed 20-bed inpatient behavioral health unit.

“UCSF and the University of California represent one of the most powerful engines for innovation and public impact in the world,” Hao said. “Kathy and I are big believers in the magic produced by the very best academic medical centers and are proud to support the amazing people at UCSF.”

Longtime UC engagement spurs new support

Chiao and Hao are longtime supporters of academic hospitals and the health sciences. With decades of advisory service to UCSF, Hao currently serves as vice chair of the UCSF Board of Directors and as co-chair of the UCSF Health Executive Council. Hao’s investment acumen, particularly in the technology field, has been significant for UCSF as it navigates the rapidly changing landscape of science, health care, and higher education.

The UCSF donation comes on the heels of a $75 million contribution by the couple to the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine. The UC Davis gift, announced April 23, will support the construction of a new small-animal hospital, which will be among the most advanced veterinary medical centers in the world. The project will expand UC Davis veterinary care facilities by 50% to serve 75,000 animals each year. The gift will also fund veterinary student scholarships, research projects that connect animal medicine to its human counterparts at UC Davis Health, UCSF, and other institutions, and programs for those unable to afford veterinary care.

Chiao and Hao also have supported UC Berkeley School of Public Health through scholarships and the foundational funding for Berkeley’s Impact Innovators, a program that sponsors student leaders to advance community health while building skills in social entrepreneurship and community partnership.

Support for AI monitoring, translational research

The couple has provided substantial funding to UCSF for over a decade, including $5 million last year to develop a real-time AI monitoring platform for clinical care. The project, known as the Impact Monitoring Platform for AI in Clinical Care (IMPACC), aims to assess the safety and efficacy of AI technologies as they are adopted in the clinic.

IMPACC will help health care leaders determine whether a tool is achieving its intended results, requires improvement, or poses risks such as worsening health disparities.

The couple’s support also will accelerate collaborative work in the field of translational medicine. Their UC Davis gift fuels the potential for new discoveries for animals and humans, as clinicians and researchers from UC Davis, UCSF and other organizations collaborate to find the most effective treatments and research to advance health for all. Among other recent collaborations, UCSF and UC Davis partnered to develop a clinical trial that benefited cats with squamous cell carcinoma, opening potential new paths for treatment in humans.

Hao is chairman and a managing partner of Silver Lake, a global technology investment firm. The Chiao-Hao family are residents of the Bay Area. Their philanthropy focuses on medicine and life sciences, education and scholarships, nature and animal welfare, Asian American initiatives, and arts accessibility.