Biomedical research is currently in revolution, a time of accelerating and metamorphic discovery fueled by unparalleled technologies that generate enormous amounts of data that, in turn, spur and spawn avenues of new inquiry and questions previously unimagined.
To thrive in these times requires an organization with a clear mission, one that is nimble, collaborative and open to innovation. Sanford Burnham Prebys embodies this vision, empowering leading scientists with state-of-the-art resources to translate discovery into health.
The institute was founded in 1976 by William Harold Fishman, MD, (1914-2001) and his wife Lillian Waterman Fishman (1915-2013). The new entity was originally called the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation.
In 1996, the Foundation was renamed The Burnham Institute following a $10 million gift from San Diego businessman Malin Burnham. In 2007, philanthropist T. Denny Sanford gave the institute $20 million, followed by another $50 million gift in 2010. In 2015, the name became Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, honoring a $100 million gift from local philanthropist Conrad Prebys (1933-2016).
In 2026, Sanford Burnham Prebys will celebrate its 50th anniversary. As in the past, Sanford Burnham Prebys is adapting and evolving, pushing the boundaries of imagination and technology, to remain a leader in biomedical research. The institute is comprised of four disease-focused centers addressing cancer, neurologic, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases and two technology-enabling centers emphasizing therapeutics discovery and data science/artificial intelligence.
In 1981, Sanford Burnham Prebys was designated one of only seven official basic research cancer centers in the country by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a distinction it has held since then.
The Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics is one of the largest non-profit drug discovery enterprises in the nation, with multiple FDA-approved drugs and many more in clinical trials.
More than 200 postdoctoral researchers, together with students in the nationally accredited Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and a robust internship program, are mentored at Sanford Burnham Prebys each year. The institute is home to more than 500 employees, including 53 principal investigators and 67 postdoctoral researchers. It boasts three members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Sanford Burnham Prebys’ research ranks among the top 1 percent of institutions worldwide based on citations per paper.
Philanthropy has been central to this trajectory. Generous donors have fueled breakthroughs in fundamental biology and disease pathways, enabled endowed chairs that attract and retain world-class scientific talent, supported scholarships and fellowships that cultivate the next generation of biomedical innovators, and provided critical resources for technology, bridge funding and high-risk pilot projects. This support accelerates the translation of discovery into new treatments for patients, which is at the core of what they do. In an era of rapidly evolving scientific opportunity, philanthropic investment continues to expand Sanford Burnham Prebys’ capacity for impact and shape the future of human health.
For more information, please visit www.sbpdiscovery.org/philanthropy.
