Melbourne gets Australia’s biggest philanthropic donation to a medical facility

The financial gift of $250 million will bring pandemic preparedness to Melbourne, focussing on rapid development and commercialisation of new treatments for infectious diseases.

Melbourne will get a new pandemic preparedness centre, thanks to a $250 million philanthropic cash injection from Canadian philanthropist and businessman Geoffrey Cumming. 

The donation is being made to the University of Melbourne to establish the centre and represents the largest ever philanthropic donation to an Australian medical research facility.

The most extraordinary act of philanthropic generosity I have ever known. The Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics will save millions of lives. Made possible by a $250m donation by Geoffrey Cumming and $75m from Victorian Govt. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🙏 pic.twitter.com/EXAswahrTE

— Nicholas Reece (@Nicholas_Reece) August 30, 2022

To be known as the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics, it will focus on rapidly developing, testing and commercialising new treatments to tackle infectious diseases and is expected to create more than 200 jobs, according to The Australian.

“We aim to create solutions to minimise the impact of future pandemics and create greater societal resiliency internationally in the decades ahead,” Cumming said.

The Age reported that Cumming chose Melbourne as the site for the new centre for four reasons, including the city’s existing medical ‘ecosystem’ and the way that the nation handled the pandemic.

The centre will initially be based within the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, before moving to the Australian Institute for Infectious Diseases, set to open in 2027.

Cumming is the chairman of Karori Capital Ltd, a New Zealand-based private investment firm. He has previously made donations to Canadian and New Zealand medical research.

The centre will be further supported by $75 million over 10 years from the state government.