And the rich people in Silicon Valley just keep on giving.
Just like his former Facebook partner Mark Zuckerberg, who contributed $25 million from his own pocket to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to fight against Ebola, Sean Parker is donating a staggering $24 million, this time for allergy research.
His donation is more sentimental since the 35-year-old billionaire has landed in the hospital more than 10 times due to his recurrent bouts of allergies over the last 4 years. Parker grew up battling different kinds of allergies especially to food such as peanuts and shellfish, as well as asthma. During his high school, he spent almost an entire month in the hospital as he battled the complications that came with using cortisone steroids. These drugs are meant to suppress the immune system and thus treat the allergic reactions. He's always carrying an EpiPen with him.
He's planning to give the money to Stanford University to help establish an allergy research center in honor of him.
One of the main thrusts of the future center is to find the most comprehensive treatment that will expose the patients to fewer allergy therapies. Hopefully, this will lead to discovering the right cure. According to Parker, it's not sufficient that sufferers receive only gradual improvement for their condition.
An associate professor of the university Kari Nadeau is designated to head the center. Clinical trials are also underway beginning next year, and Parker will be one of the very first that will participate.
Moreover, since the center will continue to use the present facilities of the university, the major bulk of the donation will definitely go to research.
Nevertheless, even though that the donation is substantial, World Allergy Organization president Lanny K. Rosenwasser wants to be more realistic. It may take a long time, as long as a decade, before they may be able to discover the cure, if that's even possible. This could be because there are many different types of allergies.
