The University of California, San Diego has announced a $12 million gift from Hanna and Mark Gleiberman in support of the head and neck cancer center at UC San Diego Health.

The gift will be used to develop and advance innovative clinical trials for head and neck cancer treatment; develop a fellowship program for the next generation of head and neck cancer experts; provide start-up and retention packages for junior faculty as well as funding for pilot projects; and create an endowment to provide seed funding for research projects, equip physicians and physician-scientists with resources needed to develop life-changing tools and therapies, and provide matching funds to augment extramural grants.

In addition to offering an integrative, multidisciplinary treatment approach featuring minimally invasive surgery, reconstruction and rehabilitation, proton and other forms of radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted molecular therapies, and personalized immunotherapy, the center is sponsoring more than twenty active clinical trials. In recognition of the gift, the center will be renamed the Hanna and Mark Gleiberman Head and Neck Cancer Center.

In 2019, Hanna Gleiberman was diagnosed with an advanced, life-threatening form of tongue cancer and was treated at the Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health. "What she was facing was daunting," said Mark Gleiberman, founder and CEO of San Diego-based real estate investment firm MG Properties Group. "We were so lucky to have one of the world's top head and neck cancer centers right here in our own backyard to help Hanna make an amazing recovery."

"While we have an incredible base in translational science, and leverage molecular and immunologic knowledge to treat patients and move discoveries into clinical trials, this gift will allow us to really focus on how to improve functional outcomes [and] quality of life and improve recovery after treatment," said Joseph A. Califano III, physician-in-chief at the Moores Cancer Center and director of the Hanna and Mark Gleiberman Head and Neck Cancer Center.

(Photo credit: Studio Carre Photographie)