Key takeaways
- The commitment will support the school’s mission of improving health, wellness, quality of life and nursing care, both locally and globally, through research, education, nursing practice and community engagement.
- Wen, who earned a UCLA bachelor’s degree in economics in 1998, went on to build Formosa Ltd., a multinational enterprise.
- The UCLA Joe C. Wen School of Nursing will be the first UCLA school named for an Asian American.
Southern California entrepreneur and UCLA alumnus Joe C. Wen and his family have made a $30 million commitment to the UCLA School of Nursing that will ensure the school’s excellence and impact for years to come by supporting nursing education, elevating student achievement and driving innovation in nursing research.
In recognition of the generous donation, the largest in the school’s 76-year history, UCLA plans to name the school the UCLA Joe C. Wen School of Nursing, making it the university’s first school named for an Asian American.
The commitment, said UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk, a globally renowned scholar and champion of public health, represents both an acknowledgement of the importance of nurses — the largest segment of the health care workforce — and a farsighted vision of nursing’s future.
“Nurses are the backbone of health care. In the span of our lives, a nurse is often the first and last person we see, a constant presence in our most vulnerable moments,” Frenk said. “This extraordinary gift from Joe C. Wen and his family honors that vital role. It expands our ability to educate the next generation of nurse leaders and faculty, those who will care for people across their lifetimes and help fulfill UCLA’s mission to improve lives through education, service and innovation in health.”
“I am profoundly grateful to Joe and his family for understanding the value of nursing with this incredible gift,” said Lin Zhan, dean of the nursing school. “This historic and visionary investment enables us to continue our legacy of innovation, leadership and excellence, to prepare exceptional nurses and leaders across health care ecosystems, and to elevate the school to fulfill our mission and goals.”
When it was founded in 1949, the UCLA School of Nursing was home to the first undergraduate nursing program west of the Mississippi; several years later, it became the first in California to confer a master of science in nursing degree. A pioneering institution in the training of nursing leaders, the school has evolved into one of the nation’s premier centers for cutting-edge education and research, with degree programs ranked among the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report and a robust research enterprise that regularly places among the top schools in federal funding.
Wen’s commitment will ensure UCLA’s role in meeting the health care needs of California and the nation by supporting the nursing school’s four educational programs, which serve approximately 600 students and range from a baccalaureate program for students seeking entry-level professional nursing roles to a doctoral degree program for those pursuing work in advanced nursing practice and research. It will also support continued research innovation by both faculty and students, which in the past has led to advances in evidence-based nursing practice and the development of lifesaving medical devices — and which will increasingly, Wen said, bring into play evolving technologies like artificial intelligence.
“My family joins me in this commitment to support the UCLA School of Nursing’s mission to strengthen excellence in education and the health care system,” Wen said. “This transformational gift will help create a global academic research powerhouse and think tank for future nursing leaders, and I am honored to support this great cause. Most importantly, the gift will have an immediate and profound impact on communities here in Southern California — especially in today’s challenging health care landscape — by funding research and advancing AI technology in health care.”
Just as strengthening connections between UCLA and local and global communities is a major pillar of Chancellor Frenk’s collective vision for the university, community engagement is integral to the school of nursing’s mission to improve health, wellness, quality of life and nursing care for people locally and around the world. Nursing students and faculty regularly serve throughout Los Angeles, providing free health care to homeless and underserved populations through initiatives like UCLA Health’s Homeless Healthcare Collaborative and service at the nonprofit Care Harbor. Internationally, the school maintains cooperative academic and research programs with institutions across Asia, Africa and Europe.
Wen, who immigrated with his family from Taiwan to the United States as a teenager, earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from UCLA in 1998 and a master’s in business administration from the University of Southern California before launching his first business — a paper trading company — in 2003. That business evolved into Formosa Ltd., a multinational conglomerate with holdings across several industries, including venture capital; lending; real estate holding, development and management; and forest products manufacturing and trading.
The UCLA Joe C. Wen School of Nursing will continue to maintain its collaborative partnership with UCLA Health, which employs nearly 6,000 nurses across California and plays a key role with the school in developing qualified nurses who are knowledgeable in evidence-based, technology-enabled, patient-centered care. And with a current national nursing shortage, the school is actively working to prepare its graduates to lead across diverse settings, drive innovation, improve patient care and transform health care from hospital systems to national policy arenas.
“This transformative gift will allow the UCLA School of Nursing to excel in preparing outstanding nurses at a time when we see shortages in the hospital and health system industry,” said Johnese Spisso, president of UCLA Health and CEO of the UCLA Hospital System, who began her career as a critical care and trauma nurse. “Mr. Wen and his family are helping ensure that we train the next generation of nurses to sustain excellence in patient care.”
Wen and his family, who live in Orange County, have made several major philanthropic contributions to the University of California. Avid supporters of UC’s health system — which builds on the interdisciplinary alliance of public health, nursing, medicine, and pharmaceutical and clinical practices — their giving has included a 2024 commitment that led to the creation and naming of the UC Irvine Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health. With the latest commitment to the UCLA School of Nursing, the family has committed $100 million to the UC system since 2022.
Wen was happy to support his alma mater, he said — after all, UCLA’s long-recognized excellence in health care education, research and practice made it easy.
“UCLA is the nation’s No. 1 public university, the UCLA School of Nursing is ranked among the top 10 nursing programs in the nation and UCLA Health is consistently ranked among the top hospitals in the nation,” he said. “I am inspired by my alma mater, which has shaped our overwhelming belief in educational institutions as change agents for human health.”
