Our Impact
Embracing high-risk ideas that have high-impact potential
Supporting Breakthroughs
In Dementia Research
We accomplish this urgent and audacious commitment through two strategic areas of focus: Toffler Grants and the Toffler Scholar program.
By focusing on providing funding and a network for future-focused approaches often considered too early and high-risk for traditional channels, we are driving forward meaningful solutions and the community of those who have the potential to create them for years to come.
6
Partner
Universities
17
Toffler Scholars
& Leadership Awards
$542,500
Funding Given
To-Date
The Toffler Scholar Program
Perhaps more than anything else we do at the Karen Toffler Charitable Trust, the Toffler Scholar program reflects the future-focused legacy of our founders, Alvin and Heidi Toffler. It is expressly dedicated to filling a support gap for promising young medical researchers, physicians, and scientists who are at a pivotal point in their careers. With funding and a vital, relevant network, recipients have the resources they need to continue their groundbreaking work and develop into experienced professionals.
Toffler Scholars are selected for their keen intellect, innovative thinking, meticulous planning, and demonstrated passion for their work. Through working on disparate projects across multiple areas, every Toffler Scholar is united in his or her goal to advance medical research and bring high-impact changes to all humanity.
Toffler Scholar Spotlight
Making Surgery Safer
In 2020, Dr. Ira Hofer became a Toffler Scholar for his research dedicated to understanding, quantifying, and ultimately mitigating risk before surgery (the perioperative period). Data suggests that at least 4.2 million people worldwide die within 30 days of surgery each year. With funding support from the Toffler Scholar program, Dr. Hofer has partnered with Eran Halperin, Ph.D., a data scientist from the Department of Computational Medicine to use machine learning and AI to help identify layered risks and risks across specialties. The goal of the research is to help doctors better understand the risks that a patient faces, enabling them to choose the best, most effective treatment option and ultimately decrease the prevalence of postoperative complications and death.
Toffler Grant Program
Through strategic annual grants, the Toffler Grant program supports medical research organizations that have demonstrated high-impact potential and a need for financial and network support. For those who challenge conventional thinking in the effort to create a healthier future, the Toffler Grant program is a path to the next stage of research, discovery, and impact.
Toffler Grant Spotlight
Speeding Vital Technology to the Market
The UCLA Innovation Fund speeds technologies from idea to market, bridging the funding gap between academia and industry. Their nontraditional research awards help projects advance to key milestones and support the commercialization of important technologies and medical advancements.
See a Bigger Picture
Passion and promise fuel our work, the work of those we fund and support, and the people in their lives.
Your involvement will change humanity for the better.