History

Some 30 years ago, the Arredondo brothers Juan, Felipe, Luis and Carlos worked in the Fresno area cotton fields during the school summer breaks. Later Juan, Felipe and Carlos followed their dream of becoming scientists. Now they pursue their vision to found a research institution, and discover new therapies for the major health problems affecting the Hispanic population.

The main idea was to found a non-profit research institution dedicated to finding cures for the diseases affecting the Hispanic community; led by Juan working at University of California, Davis School of Medicine, Felipe working at Virgina Tech University, and Carlos at Heinz company helping to create the Gene Therapy Institute for Hispanic Medical Research based in Davis. Founded in 2007 as the Gene Therapy Institute, the Institute will focus on Skin, Cervical, Breast and Prostate Cancer, Diabetics and Skin Aging Research, Gene Therapies and the Development of DNA Vaccines.

Juan will serve first as president and scientific director. The institute expects to receive grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and State agencies to help start-up the institute research operations. Located in Davis, the institute is in a great center of scientific privilege in Northern California, surrounded by UC campuses including Davis, San Francisco, Berkeley and Stanford University, and both Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL).