Autoimmune diseases—including type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, Graves’ disease, and celiac disease—vary widely in symptoms and severity yet share a common driver: an immune system that mistakenly attacks the body’s own tissues, producing inflammation and damage. More than eighty autoimmune diseases have been identified, affecting an estimated 23.5 million people in the United States; prevalence continues to rise.
Yale School of Medicine (YSM) has received a $2.5 million gift from the Colton Foundation to advance the work of the Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Yale and the Colton Consortium for Autoimmunity.
Founded in 2020, the Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Yale pursues a mission to identify and nurture research leading to cures, with an emphasis on early-stage, high-potential ideas and studies needed to move discoveries toward new diagnostics and treatments. The consortium is a global partnership among the four Colton Centers at Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, New York University, and Tel Aviv University.
“We are grateful to the Colton Foundation for their vision and philanthropic support,” says Nancy J. Brown ’81, the Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of YSM. “This gift enables YSM to recruit faculty focused on autoimmunity and translational immunology, foster multi-institution collaboration with physicians and scientists across the Colton Consortium, and advance research toward novel treatments and cures.”