Mark Zuckerberg's new $3 billion goal: Cure, prevent and manage all disease

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan have set a new ambitious goal: curing disease. The two announced that their Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will invest at least $3 billion over the next 10 years in an effort to achieve this goal.

Speaking Wednesday at an event on the campus of the University of California, San Francisco, Chan, who is herself a pediatrician, said the goal of the couple's investment is to "cure, prevent and manage" all disease by the end of the century.

"By investing in science today we hope to build a future where all our children can live long and rewarding lives," Chan said at the start of the event. She was quick to note that the goal isn't to eliminate disease entirely but to invest in research that will allow for today's diseases to be cured, prevented and managed.

It's an ambitious goal and one that will almost certainly take more than $3 billion, but Zuckerberg boiled the plan down to three main steps: bringing scientists and engineers together, creating tools and technology, and building a movement to fund more research.

To further those goals, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is investing $600 million in the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a new research facility the organization is creating in partnership with Stanford, Berkeley and UCSF. The facility will bring together engineers, computer scientists, researchers, scientists and others who will collaborate on new research efforts.

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The Biohub's first two projects will be an Infectious Disease Initiative, focused on fighting diseases like Ebola, HIV and Zika, and the Cell Atlas, a project that seeks to map the different types of cells in the human body.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is also appointing Dr. Cori Bargmann to lead its science efforts. Bargmann previously served as co-chair of President Obama's BRAIN initiative, a research effort that sought to cure and treat brain disorders like Alzheimer's.

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Zuckerberg and Chan started the initiative in 2015 with the intention of using 99 percent of their Facebook stock -- roughly $45 billion -- with the goal of "advancing human potential and promoting equality." The organization has previously invested in an education startup in India and a startup that trains developers in Africa.

Wednesday's event, which was attended by San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California, closed with a surprise appearance by Bill Gates, who Zuckerberg said had been a longtime role model.

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Gates talked about his own experience in science research via his Gates Foundations and applauded Chan and Zuckerberg's investment, describing their goal of curing all disease as "very bold, very ambitious."

"I have no doubt we'll make great progress on these diseases," Gates said.