University of California President James B. Milliken has awarded the UC Presidential Medal to Joan and Sanford I. Weill in recognition of their years of extraordinary service and transformative support of the university across the arts and sciences.
The Presidential Medal is the university’s highest honor. UC President Milliken awarded the medal to the Weills on Oct. 29, during the 2025 Future of the Brain Summit at UC San Francisco, held on the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences.
Joining President Milliken in honoring the Weills for their remarkable contributions and steadfast support were the chancellors and senior leaders of UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UC San Francisco, as well as former UC President Michael V. Drake, M.D., and his wife, Brenda Drake.
“Joan and Sandy’s enormously thoughtful and generous spirit is laser-focused, practical, passionate and future-focused,” said Milliken in bestowing the award. “They embody and inspire the ethos of public service that makes the University of California what it is. There are no two people more deserving of the University of California’s deepest appreciation than Sandy and Joan Weill.”
Joan and Sandy Weill are prolific philanthropists who have made more than $1 billion in gifts to educational and cultural institutions in their 70 years together, including to UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UC San Francisco.
Their longtime service to UC has included leadership roles on the UC Berkeley Board of Visitors, the UC Davis Chancellors’ Advisory Board, the UCSF Foundation Board of Directors, and the UCSF Health Executive Council. And the Weills’ philanthropic gifts have played a major role in advancing critical scientific and medical research across the university.
For example, the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, founded with a gift of $185 million, brings together world-class researchers with top-ranked physicians to solve some of the most complex challenges in the human brain. Headed by UCSF’s Stephen Hauser, M.D., whose pioneering work to advance multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment earned the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences earlier this year, the institute reflects the Weills’ emphasis on innovation by funding high-risk, high-reward research and supporting young faculty investigators and graduate students. The newly launched Weill Cancer Hub West, powered by a visionary $100 million matching grant from the Weill Family Foundation, will bring together two leading cancer centers, the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Stanford Cancer Institute, to likewise accelerate new discoveries and speed the development of innovative new treatments.
“Joan and Sandy Weill’s partnership, extraordinary in scale and enduring in purpose, has helped us reimagine what’s possible,” said UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood. “Their friendship has sustained our pursuit of a better future, and their commitment has turned dreams into real and tangible breakthroughs.”
The research centers established through the Weills’ support emphasize multi-institutional partnerships that foster collaboration among scientific leaders from different disciplines. The Weill Neurohub, founded in 2019 with a $106 million gift engages researchers and clinicians from UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco, along with the University of Washington and the Allen Institute, to speed the development of new treatments for neurological and psychiatric diseases, and bring these new therapies to patients in need.
UC has also benefited from the Weills’ generosity in the arts. The Weills have been stalwart supporters of the arts at UC Berkeley and programming that expands the accessibility of cultural offerings, including that of the internationally renowned Cal Performances.
“Sandy and Joan have been outstanding partners for many years,” said UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons. “Their leadership of and support for the Weill Neurohub, their tireless advocacy for career readiness among less-advantaged students, and their enthusiasm for sustaining the excellence of and access to offerings of Cal Performances are vitally important to our university. We have the highest respect for the Weill family’s commitment at Berkeley and throughout the UC system to better futures for all. They empower us to create and share world-improving knowledge, and at remarkable scale. UC Berkeley would not be the same epicenter of innovation, and icon of public higher education, that it is without the Weills’ support and partnership.”
The Weills also have a philanthropic passion for supporting veterinary medicine — one of Joan’s childhood dreams was to become a veterinarian —and translational medicine, a field of work that embodies the belief that what we learn from animal medicine can profoundly inform human medicine, and vice versa.
Their giving to UC Davis is instrumental in the School of Veterinary Medicine's ability to launch new trials, including multi-site comparative trials such as that of inhaled IL-15, a novel immunotherapy approach to treat metastatic oral melanoma. The trial was able to help 9-year-old Lola, a golden retriever, beat cancer against all odds. The Joan Weill Translational Medicine Research Endowment to support the Veterinary Center for Clinical Trials within the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, created in 2024, is helping support similar work.
The Weills have also been clients of the Veterinary Medicine school; they enrolled their dog Angel in a veterinary clinical trial at UC Davis after she became seriously ill. The trial significantly enhanced her quality of life during her final months and contributed to advancing veterinary research, science and discovery. Ultimately, the trial helped to improve outcomes for other animals in the future.
“Joan and Sandy’s deeply held commitment to improving the health of all living beings leads them to champion not only human medicine but animal medicine as well, and advances the interconnectedness of the two fields,” said UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May. “They are very deserving of the highest honor at the University of California, where their vision helps us create a healthier world for all every day.”
In his four-decade career as a banker and financier, Sandy served as president of American Express and chair and CEO of Citigroup. Today, he is chair of the Weill Family Foundation; founder and chair emeritus of the National Academy Foundation, a national education nonprofit that has supported over half a million students in college and future preparedness around the country; president of Carnegie Hall; chair emeritus of Weill Cornell Medicine; and honorary chair of Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose. Mr. Weill is also a member of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Joan is chair emerita for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, having served in the role for 14 years. The company’s theater is named in her honor. Mrs. Weill has also been long dedicated to supporting women’s health as the co-chair of the New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center’s Women’s Health Symposium and a member of the Executive Committee of New York Presbyterian’s Lying-In Hospital. She is also an honorary board member and president emeritus of Citymeals On Wheels, among many other roles.
Together, the Weills are recipients of the 2009 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, the 2017 Kennedy Center Award for the Human Spirit, and the 2022 Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Philanthropy.
