Sanford-Burnham

Coordinates: 32°54′04″N 117°14′31″W / 32.901192°N 117.241937°W / 32.901192; -117.241937 Coordinates: 32°54′04″N 117°14′31″W / 32.901192°N 117.241937°W / 32.901192; -117.241937 Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) is a non-profit medical research institute located in La Jolla, California. There are more than 500 scientists at SBP blending fundamental research with drug discovery to address unmet clinical needs in the areas of cancer, neuroscience, immunity, and childhood diseases. Research at SBP is supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation among others, and partnerships with pharmaceutical companies such as Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development. In 2008, SBP was awarded a $97.9 million grant by NIH to establish a high-throughput screening center. William H. Fishman, M.D., Ph.D., and his wife, Lillian Waterman Fishman, founded the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation in 1976 after retiring from Tufts University School of Medicine. The Foundation focused on oncodevelopment, the study of developmental biology in conjunction with oncology as a means to better understand cancer. In 1996, the Foundation was renamed The Burnham Institute in honor of San Diego businessman Malin Burnham after he joined with an anonymous donor to contribute $10 million. The Institute was renamed the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in 2006. In 2007, T. Denny Sanford gave the Institute $20 million through Sanford Health, a hospital which received significant donations from T. Denny Sanford previously, allowing it to create the Sanford Children's Health Research Center, which has sites in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and La Jolla, CA, the latter within the campus of SBP. In 2010, the Institute adopted the name Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute following a $50 million pledge of support from Sanford. An anonymous gift of $275 million was made in 2014. In 2015, the Institute changed its name again to Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute following a $100 million gift from philanthropist Conrad Prebys. SBP was founded with its primary focus on cancer research. The institute employs more than 700 people. The scientists who work at SBP include biologists, chemists, biophysicists, engineers, and computer scientists. SBP ranks consistently among the world's top 25 organizations for its research impact, according to Thomson Scientific data. It also ranks among the top three research institutes in the United States in National Institutes of Health grant funding.