(18 September 2017, Hong Kong) The Li Ka Shing Foundation will donate US$3 million (HK$23 million) to a team of University of Melbourne researchers, based at the the University of Melbourne Centre for Cancer Research (UMCCR), working to turn cancer into a manageable chronic disease.
The donation, which marks the first time the Foundation has given money to an Australian university, supports the world-leading UMCCR in its efforts to accelerate the pace of discovery and increase the existing global body of knowledge used to diagnose and treat cancer. The University of Melbourne is one of the primary partners in the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC), the largest aggregation of cancer research treatment in Australia, and together they have the critical mass of clinical and research expertise to address the most challenging questions in cancer.
University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis said, “This generous donation from the Li Ka Shing Foundation will help advance cutting-edge cancer research already underway at University of Melbourne. Such a philanthropic gift enables the University to extend our research knowledge and expertise to help improve global health issues.”
Mr Li said, “UMCCR attracts top-flight cancer researchers and scientists to tackle one of humanity’s most perplexing and complex health problems. I am excited to see UMCCR bring together world-class research to identify novel approaches likely to benefit humankind in significant new ways.”
The gift will be put towards the UMCCR’s precision oncology research programme to significantly improve outcomes of cancer patients in the Asia-Pacific region with upper gastrointestinal tumours through genome-directed cancer medicine.
University of Melbourne Centre for Cancer Research (UMCCR) Founding Director Professor Sean Grimmond said, “This funding will help us move a step closer to using this technology to manage upper gastrointestinal cancer, which is notoriously difficult to treat.”
About the Li Ka Shing Foundation
Established in 1980, the Li Ka Shing Foundation (LKSF) has invested HK$20 billion to work on education, medical services and research initiatives globally. In 2006, Mr. Li described his philanthropic effort as akin to having another son in the family. He called for a paradigm shift in our Asian culture of giving, through apportioning more of our wealth and means towards social capital so that we could bring forth great hope and promises for the future.
