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Susan Desmond-Hellmann and Nicholas Hellmann Make Historic Gift to Health Sciences Education

UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, and her husband, Nicholas Hellmann, MD, recently made an extraordinary gift to the campus: $1 million for professional student scholarships to be divided four ways between the schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy.

The largest donation ever to be received from a past or present UCSF chancellor was motivated by the campus’s new educational fundraising priority.

UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, and her husband, Nicholas Hellmann, MD, recently made an extraordinary gift to the campus: $1 million for professional student scholarships to be divided four ways between the schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy.

The largest donation ever to be received from a past or present UCSF chancellor was motivated by the campus’s new educational fundraising priority.

"I have a particular fondness for UCSF's educational mission because that's what brought me here in the first place," says Desmond-Hellmann, who came to UCSF as an intern in 1982. "I knew that I had landed at just the place I wanted to be: one committed to training the very best health care providers and researchers, but doing it in an amazingly warm and nurturing environment."

She continues, "I've seen a lot of academic institutions since then, but I’ve never seen another training environment that matched the one I found here. I am determined to do what I can to preserve that special culture and, in some key ways, make it even better."

Each of the schools will receive $250,000 for student support upon securing a matching gift of $250,000, creating the first Chancellor's Endowed Scholarships at UCSF. "We want to help UCSF continue its leadership and excellence in professional education, and inspire other alumni and friends to support our students," says Nick Hellmann.

The schools of medicine and pharmacy have already secured their matching gifts. The School of Medicine's gift came from alumnus and UCSF Foundation Board member Faustino (Tino) Bernadett Jr., MD '80, and his wife, Martha Bernadett, MD. The School of Pharmacy's gift came from husband-and-wife alumni Kevin Rodondi, PharmD '85, and Lisa Rodondi, PharmD '84.

The Hellmanns met as residents. Susan Desmond-Hellmann went on to complete a fellowship in oncology and received a master's degree in public health from UC Berkeley. Her last position before joining UCSF was president of product development at Genentech. Nick Hellmann is executive vice president of Medical and Scientific Affairs at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

The new educational fundraising priority comes at a time when California state budget cuts have catapulted student tuition and fees. Tuition is up 9.6 percent and professional fees have risen 25 percent from last year.