Alibaba Group Executive Chairman Jack Ma and his wife, Cathy Zhang, pledged to do donate USD3 million a year to the recently established Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation.
A report in the Alizila website said the on-profit organization annually awards “Breakthrough Prizes” worth USD3 million each to scientists who make significant contributions to the curing of intractable diseases such as cancer and extending human life.
Ma and his wife have joined several Silicon Valley luminaries in the search for advances in life sciences research — Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, his partner, Priscilla Chan, Google co-founder Sergei Brin, 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki, and Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner, an Alibaba Group investor.
The group agreed to provide a total of USD15 million for five Breakthrough Prizes. The additional contribution from Ma and Zhang means the number of Breakthrough Prizes for 2014 will increase to six, according to the foundation.
Ma will also serve as a director of the foundation, joining Apple Chairman Art Levinson, Zuckerberg, Wojcicki and Milner on the organization’s board. Ma is currently a member of The Nature Conservancy’s global board of directors.