The University of California, San Francisco has announced a $50 million grant from the Atlantic Philanthropies in New York City for construction of a new building dedicated to cardiovascular research and clinical treatment.

The largest cash gift the university has ever received requires a one-to-one match and will enable UCSF to bring together basic research scientists and clinicians who are now dispersed over several sites, accelerating their efforts to understand, prevent, and treat cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke. In addition to housing the university's existing Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI), the 232,000 square-foot building will be home to the new UCSF Center for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, which will feature an outpatient facility focused on predicting and preventing cardiovascular illnesses, and will include laboratory space for nearly five hundred graduate students, post-doctoral scientists, and other researchers.

UCSF has set aside $52 million of its own resources for the project, which is projected to cost $241 million, while an anonymous donor has contributed an additional $30 million. Construction is expected to begin in 2008 and be completed in 2011.

"The Atlantic Philanthropies are known for their generosity in areas that have major social impact, and we are gratified by the foundation's faith in our research and clinical commitment," said UCSF chancellor J. Michael Bishop. "The Cardiovascular Research Institute is at the forefront of discovery in some of the world's most debilitating diseases. This building will be critical to its success."