The University of California San Diego has announced a $20 million gift from Hanna and Mark Gleiberman in support of glaucoma research.

The gift will establish the Hanna and Mark Gleiberman Center for Glaucoma Research, to be housed within the Viterbi Family Vision Research Center, to bolster efforts to find effective ways of restoring vision to glaucoma patients in whom optic nerve damage has already occurred. In addition, the gift will create three endowed chairs, which will aid in the recruitment of vision scientists.

Mark Gleiberman, who was diagnosed with glaucoma, serves on the UC San Diego Foundation board of trustees. Earlier this year, the couple helped establish the Homelessness Hub at UC San Diego, and in 2021, after Hanna was treated for tongue cancer at UC San Diego Health, the couple established the Gleiberman Head and Neck Cancer Center at Moores Cancer Center.

“We choose to support causes which we have a connection with, be it the Gleiberman Head and Neck Cancer Center at UC San Diego, after Hanna‘s treatments, or in the case of the glaucoma research center, with my experience with the disease,” said Gleiberman. “It is important for us to team up with the top physician-scientists in the world to address medical issues that will improve the quality of life for many people.”

“UC San Diego has an established history as one of the nation’s top places for vision care and research, and this gift will serve to bolster even further the leading-edge work taking place to combat glaucoma,” said UCSD chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “We are grateful to Hanna and Mark Gleiberman for their visionary support of this new center, which follows their past generous support to combat cancer and address societal issues such as homelessness.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/batke)