Woodruff Foundation gives Emory University $400 million

he Robert W. Woodruff Foundation gave Emory University $400 million, the largest gift it has ever received.

Part of the funds will go toward a new Health Sciences Research Building planned on Emory's main Druid Hills campus that will house faculty and staff who aim to develop cures, interventions and prevention methods that improve the health of patients. The center's five priorities will be brain health; cancer; heart and vascular health; immunology and infectious diseases; and radiology, biomedical engineering and imaging sciences. Emory will continue its partnership with Children's to investigate childhood diseases as well.

Emory is also building a new Winship Cancer Institute Tower in Midtown. It will provide infusion facilities, operating rooms, clinical examination rooms, rehabilitation spaces, imaging technology and clinical research capacity.

In addition to these buildings, Emory also is planning a mixed-use campus on North Druid Hills, across from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's $1 billion-plus pediatric campus and hospital that will break ground this year. Emory has purchased 70 acres in the area, but it has yet to reveal its plans. It did not mention the site in Brookhaven in its announcement of the Woodruff gift, and it is unclear whether any part of the $400 million could go toward that project.

The Woodruff Foundation has long supported Emory's mission. Robert Woodruff, late president of The Coca cola co.(NYSE: KO), first made a contribution to Emory in 1937. In 1979, he and his brother George woodruff gave Emory $105 million, the first nine-figure gift to an institution of higher education.
This is an extraordinary gift at an extraordinary time in Atlanta’s history,” said Emory University President Claire E. Sterk in a statement. “We are grateful and honored to be the recipients of the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation’s stalwart trust in our mission. The legacy of Mr. Woodruff lives on, and even today, his spirit of generosity is creating hope for those facing the most difficult days of their lives.”