The standing-room only audience for the afternoon address and panel discussion spilled onto the building’s balconies and main staircases, while others watched via live webcast or followed the day’s events on Twitter.

UCSF officially opened the Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building on its Mission Bay campus June 2 with a ribbon-cutting and open house.

"This is a great moment for UCSF and for the city of San Francisco and above all else for cancer research and cancer patients," said UCSF Chancellor Mike Bishop, MD, to an audience of hundreds.

Bishop noted that the cancer research building was but a gleam in the eye of a few when he took the helm of UCSF 11 years ago. Although told that there was no room at UCSF Mount Zion, where another cancer research building and clinics are clustered, and no money for the project, "along came a small group of angels," Bishop said.

A landmark $35 million gift from the Helen Diller Family Foundation of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund and a $20 million challenge grant from Atlantic Philanthropies were critical to the success of the project. More than 300 donors supported the effort.

UCSF Chancellor Emeritus J. Michael Bishop; cancer researchers Peter Carroll and Mitchel Berger; two of Helen Diller's grandchildren, son-in-law Dan Safier and daughter Jackie Safier; and Frank McCormick, director of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, participate in the ribbon-cutting at the grand opening of the Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building at Mission Bay.

Designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, at full build-out the 160,000–square–foot building will be home to approximately 410 cancer researchers. The $135 million state–of–the–art facility will house scientists investigating cancer's basic biological mechanisms, brain tumors, urologic oncology, pediatric oncology, cancer population sciences and computational biology.

Jackie Safier, daughter of Helen and Sanford Diller, said the family is "very excited about the building and the spirit of collaboration in which it was designed." She was joined by her husband and children on stage for the ribbon–cutting ceremony.

The ribbon–cutting was followed by a keynote address from J. Craig Venter, PhD, who pioneered the Human Genome Project, and a panel discussion on personalized medicine and 21st–century cancer research and care. The day was capped with tours of the building and a reception.

From left, renowned biologist J. Craig Venter; UCSF Chancellor-elect Susan Desmond-Hellmann; UCSF cancer center director Frank McCormick; and influential venture capital investor Brook Byers took part in a panel discussion on personalized medicine and the future of cancer research and treatment.

For more information on the Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building, contact Ann Carollo at 415/502-2404 or ACarollo@support.ucsf.edu.

Photos/Noah Berger