Despite dour economic predictions around the world, Israeli medical sciences will leap forward this week, thanks to two new massive grants to two of Israel's foremost universities, courtesy of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation.
Mrs. Lily Safra, president of the foundation established by and named for her late husband Mr. Edmond J. Safra, will visit Israel this week to inaugurate two new projects.
The Edmond J. Safra Foundation and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem will herald the establishment of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, a $130 million project the foundation is calling "the most ambitious initiative of its kind in Israel's history and one of the most important in the world." The project, which is receiving $50 million in funding from the Foundation, will also be funded by Hebrew University. University officials said the donation is the single largest research donation to an Israeli university in the nation's history.
The center will focus on how stimuli such as sight and sound become brain impulses, and will work on developing treatments for neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
Also during her stay, Lily Safra will inaugurate the Edmond J. Safra Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities at Haifa University. The Foundation previously granted $31 million to Haifa University to address problems of "brain drain" at Israeli universities.
While the new brain sciences center may become legendary, the generous philanthropy of the Safras in Israel already is. In the last ten years, the Safras' foundation has donated over $250 million to various medical, scientific, educational, cultural, and social programs throughout the country. In the summer of 2007, the Foundation made donations of $180,000 each to 75 Israeli organizations in honor of Mr. Safra's 75th birthday, totaling $13.5 million dollars. Those gifts came in addition to the ongoing grants the Safras were already giving that year.
Our commitment to supporting our partners in Israel, as in other countries, remains the same"
"The Edmond J. Safra Foundation's projects in Israel form one part of our activities that span over fifty countries," said Mrs. Safra in a news release. "Our commitment to supporting our partners in Israel, as in other countries, remains the same, especially during these hard times, when so many foundations are being forced to reduce the scope of their work. My inspiration has always been my husband Edmond, who considered philanthropy to be a duty and devoted his legacy to helping the less fortunate now and for generations to come."
During her stay in Israel, Mrs. Safra also will visit the Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital at Tel HaShomer Hospital .
Earlier this year, the Israel Museum received $12 milion from the foundation for the Fine Arts wing, which will be renovated, upgraded, and renamed for the Safras.