---
title: "Here’s How The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative Aims To Eliminate All Disease"
description: "From Facebook, Chan and Zuckerberg have moved on to a new project in which they aim to eliminate all disease through taking bold risks"
date: "2017-02-14"
modified: "2017-02-14"
authors:
  - name: "Futurism"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/admin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-chan-zuckerberg-initiative-aims-to-cure-all-disease-heres-how"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "cures"
  - "disease"
  - "facebook"
  - "nih"
---

# Here’s How The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative Aims To Eliminate All Disease

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Visita_de_Mark_Zuckerberg_a_Los_Pinos_2-edit-1.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Visita_de_Mark_Zuckerberg_a_Los_Pinos_(2).jpg#/media/File:Visita_de_Mark_Zuckerberg_a_Los_Pinos_(2).jpg" target="\_blank"\>Wikimedia\</a\>\</em\>*

## A Billion Dollar Plan

More often than not, we visit the social media giant, [Facebook](<https://Facebook.com>), as a part of our daily ritual. What's many might not know about the company is that its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are heading an initiative to eliminate *all disease*. It's known as the [Chan-Zuckerberg initiative](<https://chanzuckerberg.com/>).

It is a $3 billion plan that has already created the independent non-profit, [Biohub](<https://czbiohub.org/>). Biohub

[![Universal-Basic-Income-A-Beginners-Guide\_home\_v1 (1)](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Universal-Basic-Income-A-Beginners-Guide_home_v1-1-300x200.jpg>)](<https://goo.gl/O68KLf>)
*[CLICK TO VIEW FULL INFOGRAPHIC](<https://goo.gl/O68KLf>)*

plans to utilize $50 million in funding that will go towards the recruitment of 47 scientists, technologists, and engineers from some of the greatest research institutes in the nation: [UC-Berkeley, UCSF, and Stanford. ](<http://www.nature.com/news/riskiest-ideas-win-50-million-from-chan-zuckerberg-biohub-1.21440>)

One central theme in the recruitment of innovators is the idea of *risk*. While many public institutions award grants based on certain variables, Biohub's co-founder, [Stephen Quake asserts that they](<http://www.nature.com/news/riskiest-ideas-win-50-million-from-chan-zuckerberg-biohub-1.21440>), "are trying to take on things that are above their\[public institution's\] threshold of risk.” However, this does not mean that the researchers intend to go without additional funding sources. In fact, the 3 billion dollars allocated to the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative pales in comparison the $30 billion that the National Institute of Health (NIH) spends annually on medical research.

## A Long Term Goal

You might be scratching your head thinking how $3 billion dollars from Chan and Zuckerberg will somehow be the key to eradicating all diseases when the NIH itself spends $30 billion annually.

When it comes to the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, it's not just about the money, it's about the method. It's about accelerating non-traditional means of research that may, in the long-run, lead to more impactful outcomes. The aim is to spread $1.5 million across a five-year period to the selected scientists so that they are more likely to receive an NIH grant later.

As they say: *with great risk, comes great return.* Hopefully, the bold methods of this initiative will pay off and we will have better methods to combat disease.