UC Davis Receives $120M Gift, Largest Ever to Veterinary Medicine
The University of California, Davis, has received a $120 million gift from Joan and Sanford I. Weill through the Weill Family Foundation, supporting the university’s School of Veterinary Medicine. This donation is the largest gift to a veterinary school worldwide.
In recognition of the gift, the university has renamed the school the UC Davis Joan and Sanford I. Weill School of Veterinary Medicine.
The funds are intended to support a combination of facility expansion, veterinary education, and research initiatives. Eighty million dollars of the gift will be used to construct a new small animal teaching hospital, part of a broader $750 million Veterinary Medical Complex expansion initiative. The facility, which currently sees approximately 50,000 patients annually, will allow the school to care for up to 20,000 additional animals, expand clinical trials, and integrate technologies such as artificial intelligence and precision medicine.
The remaining $40 million will fund fundamental and clinical research. The funding is expected to support early-stage projects, collaborative “team science,” and high-impact studies that may not qualify for traditional funding.
“The gift will allow UC Davis to expand its education, research, and clinical programs, including increasing the number of veterinary students and specialists trained in high-demand areas such as emergency and critical care, oncology, neurology, cardiology, and primary care,” said Mark Stetter, dean of the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine.
Sanford I. Weill, a member of the UC Davis Chancellor’s Board of Advisors, said the gift supports the university’s efforts in both veterinary and comparative medicine, the study of health and disease across species.
Chancellor Gary S. May added that the donation will help the university expand access to veterinary care, strengthen research programs, and improve facilities for students and faculty.
The new teaching hospital and expanded research funding are expected to accelerate translational research—investigations that apply discoveries in animals to human health—and support innovation in diagnostics, treatment planning, and patient care.
