Cracking the Code of Aging: $25 Million Gift to the Technion’s Healthy Aging Center

The Grand family, longtime supporters of major projects at the Technion, has announced a generous $25 million gift to the Technion’s Healthy Aging Center. Led by Prof. Shai Shen-Orr of the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, the center aims to deepen our understanding of the aging process and improve quality of life in older age.

The gift from Nancy Grand and her late husband Stephen, z”l, will advance a holistic approach to aging research by supporting the work of more than 60 faculty members from a range of academic units at the Technion across seven distinct research areas.

“The Grands’ generous gift is significant not only for the Technion and research into healthy aging, but also for Israel’s role in advancing innovation for the benefit of humanity,” said Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan. “Israel has long broken new ground in science and technology, from building a high-tech nation, through the digital revolution to the age of artificial intelligence. As the population ages, research that will help us not only live longer but also maintain a good quality of life in older age becomes increasingly important.”

The Nancy and Stephen Grand Healthy Aging Institute is unique in its positioning within a global technical university. Collaboration among researchers across medicine, engineering, data science, and other fields ensures a comprehensive and holistic approach to creating a world in which people have the tools to maintain resilience and physical, emotional, and social well-being into their final years. A growing older population presents significant implications for public health and economic systems, and research out of the Institute will play a critical role in global problem-solving on these issues.

“You can live to 95, but if your brain falls apart in your 70s, then what’s the difference?” said Grand. “[The institute is] concentrating on getting the most out of the years you have left. It’s cutting-edge, and it will help humanity.”

Established in 2024 by Professor Shen-Orr, the Institute accelerates research across seven distinct themes: cellular mechanisms of aging, systems aging, cognition and motor function, personalized medicine and biomarkers of aging, personalized food and drug interventions, assistive technology for independent living, and community and environment. Each theme is led by one or two senior Technion faculty members who are experts in that field with a commitment to multidisciplinary research.

“The Technion Healthy Aging Institute is the gold-standard of multidisciplinary collaboration,” said Institute Founding Director Prof. Shai Shen-Orr. “Aging goes far beyond just a number. Factors as microscopic as our unique DNA to the features of our neighborhood and the foods we eat everyday work together to shape how our last years of life look and feel. We are immensely grateful for the generous support of the Grand family, which enables the essential research required to make those years as enjoyable and fulfilling as possible.”

The Grands’ gift will support initiatives including the Lifespan Cohort study, which will regularly follow 1,000 adults across several years and metrics related to stress, gait and motion indices, cognitive evaluations, social and nutrition habits, and more. The Technion will incorporate additional advanced measurements, some developed by Technion faculty. Technion faculty can then leverage this data to holistically study the role these markers play in the aging process and refine their work as the Cohort advances.

The Institute also includes the Human and Health Monitoring Center and the Systems Medicine Center, which will employ dedicated personnel to facilitate human-based studies and clinical trials and advanced data integration. Moving forward, the Institute will offer a new graduate program focused on aging research, providing a new generation of scientists the opportunity to make a lasting mark on the next frontier of research and innovation.

This gift joins several transformative investments from Nancy and Stephen Grand to the Technion, including the Stephen and Nancy Grand Building in the Stephen B. Klein Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, the Stephen and Nancy Grand Water Research Institute and the Nancy and Stephen Grand Technion Energy Program.