A multimillion-dollar gift from the Melvin and Bren Simon Charitable Foundation is allowing the UCLA Division of Digestive Diseases to provide patients with an innovative home health program; supports new, minimally invasive treatment procedure; and funds state-of-the-art gastroenterology research.
The gift, made in memory of Melvin Simon, establishes the Melvin and Bren Simon Digestive Diseases Center at UCLA, an umbrella structure for all of the clinical operations and centers for excellence of the UCLA Division of Digestive Diseases.
The multiyear gift has already enabled the division to recruit faculty members to expand its program in inflammatory bowel diseases. Funds have also helped develop a state-of-the-art home care program, through which patients can use tablet computers to receive real-time support from their nurses and doctors.
Several other key division programs will benefit from the gift, including the Center for Interventional Endoscopy, which offers the latest minimally invasive procedures to treat a wide range of digestive disorders, as well as the Center for Systems Biomedicine, which is focused on expediting drug discovery.
