George Yancopoulos is the co-founder, president and chief scientific officer ofRegeneron Pharmaceuticals, the holder of more than 100 patents, and an advocate for increased federal funding for science research. Recently dubbed the man who could cure cancer, he has the distinction of being the first pharmaceutical research chief to become a billionaire.

A committed philanthropist, Yancopoulos has been a donor to Harvard Medical School, Boston Childrens Hospital Trust, the Hellenic Initiative and the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Hes also a big supporter of his alma mater, Columbia Universitys Columbia College, providing gifts for financial aid, athletics, campus revitalization and scientific advancements. He is a member of the schools Irving Medical Centers Precision Medicine Council and vice-chair of its Board of Advisors. In 2013, he established the Yancopoulos Family Science Fellowship for Columbia College students.

Yancopoulos recently announced a $10 million commitment to create a new institute at Columbia College focused on promoting beginners mind, the Buddhist concept of avoiding stereotypes or preconceived ideas. Arguing that humanity has become constrained by labels, Yancopoulos said, We need to have a beginners mind whenever we meet others, regardless of race, sex, color or beliefs.

The announcement comes as other higher ed donors have ramped up support for concepts and research areas that have received limited public and private funding. Examples include the Bedari Foundations $20 million gift to UCLA to study the science of kindness, T. Denny Sanfords $100 million gift to UC San Diego to study compassion, Susan and Henry Samueli's controversial $200 million gift to UC Irvine for a new integrative medicine program, and a $17 million commitment from a group of donors to start the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

By arguing that humanity needs to have a beginners mind when we try to scientifically address existential threats like climate change and our healthcare problems, Yancopoulos joins an ever-growing class of mega-donors seeking to mold key institutions and issue areas in accordance with their beliefs.

A Vocal Advocate for Science Research

Born in 1959, Yancopoulos spent his early childhood inWoodside, New York. He graduated as valedictorian from Columbia College and the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons as an M.D./Ph.D candidate. With Leonard Schleifer, he co-founded Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company that has developed blockbuster FDA-approved medicines for diseases such as cancer and asthma. Regeneron posted close to $6 billion in revenues in 2017.

In a Forbes profile of Pharmas First Billionaire R&D Chief, Matthew Herper noted that instead of acting as a portfolio manager, Yancopoulos is deeply involved in Regenerons drug discovery and is a principal inventor on all the technology patents that underlie Regenerons drugs. In this sense, Yancopoulos is a bit of a throwback to his role model P. Roy Vagelos, the 90-year-old former Merck executive, fellow Greek-American, prodigious philanthropist, and current Regeneron chairman.

About four years ago, Regeneron replaced Intel as the top sponsor for the Science Talent Search prize, the nations most prestigious scienceandmath competition for high school seniors, with a 10-year, $100 million commitment. Commenting on the rebranded Regeneron Science Talent Search, Yancopoulos said, I dont want the best minds in this country to be hedge fund managers. I want them to be scientists and engineers.

In 2017, Yancopoulos, who also leads Regenerons STEM education and mentorship programs, railed against proposed cuts to federal science budgets, telling the Chicago Tribune, We should only be working on two things: health and the freaking environment. The last thing we need is another freaking browser and appthose things are eroding our national intellect.

And a few months later, when asked how hed transform the U.S. healthcare industry if he could wave a magic wand, Yancopoulos said hed ensure that Americans view scientists the way they value athletes and movie stars. Society, he said,needs to attract the rare geniuses withappropriate recognition and reward.

Hurdles to Implementation

At first glance, Yancopoulos $10 million gift earmarked for beginners mind seems slightly off-script, given his experience, philanthropic track record and previous calls for more investment in science research. With federal funding on the chopping block, why not just cut a $10 million check for more science research?

For an answer, lets step back in time to 2015. That was when Columbia College Dean James Valentini, in an interview with the Columbia Spectator, articulated his goal of instilling a beginners mind philosophy across the school. Beginner's mind is about... not being constrained in your thinking by assumptions you might have, or preconceptions you might have, or prejudices you might have, he said. Beginners mind is approaching the world in the way that young children do.

At the time, Valentini floated the idea of incorporating beginners mind into the colleges Core Curriculum. Roosevelt Monts, the director of Columbia's Center for the Core Curriculum, pushed back on this idea, arguing that the curriculum is the facultys and not a tool for any ideological messaging from the administration or from anybody else, no matter how good the ideological messaging is.

In a similar vein, Vivek Ramakrishnan, Columbia College Student Councils VP for policy, said, I think its kind of difficult to implement the idea because its kind of a cultural thing. Its about a mindsetits about how you approach day-to-day interactions. Its not a programmatic thing.

Im Most Concerned About the Big Picture

In 2016, Yancopoulos daughter Nia graduated Columbia College. With Yancopoulos in the audience, Valentini extolled the virtues of beginners mind during his address, calling it the most important thinking in science; it is what drives scientific curiosity. The speech struck a nerve with Yancopoulos.

Last November, Columbia awarded Yancopoulos its Alexander Hamilton medal for his distinguished service to the college. Earlier that day, he had decided on the $10 million commitment while reflecting upon universities need to do more in the fight against divisive labels. Yancopoulos announced his gift during his acceptance speech that evening. (The gift was a surprise to everyoneYancopoulos did not notify administrators prior to his announcement.)

Listening to the dean, Yancopoulos said, it became so clear to me that beginners mind defines both the key to uniting humanity to do great things as well as the key to using science to address the most devastating threats to humanity from disease to climate change. Yancopoulos criticized the increased focus on categories of race and sex in the national conversation, including at universities, and argued that societys current over-scrutiny of ideas such as white privilege is counterproductive to uniting humanity around real threats. He also condemned universities forallowing anti-Semitic speakerson campus.

A stunned and gratified Valentini told the Spectator that although he did not know what next steps would be taken with the gift, he would include all undergraduate schools, not just Columbia College, in discussions concerning the new institute. When pressed on specifics of the commitment, such as whether he believed the money should be dedicated to endowing faculty chairs or supporting broader initiatives, Yancopoulos said, Im most concerned about the big picture. What I am concerned about is taking the best and the brightest minds and teaching them to think outside the box.

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A Pharma Billionaire's Campus Gift to Promote a Different Way of Thinking - Inside Philanthropy