With a $7.5 million gift from the Friedman Family Foundation endowed by Stephen and Board of Fellows Vice Chair Barbara Friedman, Weill Cornell Medicine has established an innovative cross-campus center dedicated to improving human health through research in the complex relationship between nutrition, inflammation and the development of disease.

The Friedman Center for Nutrition and Inflammation will create new programs across Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell’s Ithaca campus, harnessing key resources to study the interaction between diet, the immune system and the microbiome – the genetic material generated by the viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites that live in or on the human body.

The Friedman Center will be directed by Dr. David Artis, a world leader in immunology, inflammation and microbiome research. Researchers at the center will work to develop treatments and preventive strategies for illnesses including cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease.