1959-------->
A Big Idea in a Little Space
Research at Children’s Hospital Oakland begins in 1959 with a staff of only five people and 8,000 square-feet of space. The Bruce Lyon Memorial Research Laboratory is the first in Northern California exclusively researching children’s diseases.

Bruce Lyon Memorial Research Laboratory

1981------->
A Big Idea Getting Bigger
Research funding at Children’s reaches $1.5 million and suddenly space is at a premium. A number of researchers work out of trailers installed just next door.

Summer Research Internships for Students
CHORI begins a Summer Research Internship Program giving high school and college students a chance to work one-on-one with CHORI investigators.

1988----->Burgeoning Budget
CHORI’s endowment increases to $8 million. CHORI awards first grants to physicians and nurses to increase “translational” research.

1998----->
The World’s Only Nonprofit Sibling Donor Cord Blood Program
CHORI establishes the world’s only nonprofit Sibling Donor Cord Blood program. The program serves children from across the United States, curing them of cancer, leukemia, deadly blood disorders and other transplant-treatable illnesses.

CHORI renovates University High School

2000----->
The First Cure for Alpha Thalassemia
CHORI’s Blood and Marrow Transplant research team brings about the first cure of alpha thalassemia major in North America. Since then, many children with cancers or other deadly blood disorders have been cured with a bone marrow transplant at Children’s.


Patents, Inventions and Technology Transfer Generates Millions in Revenue
CHORI focuses on technology transfer—expanding technology licensing, business development and outreach, and new venture start-up development. The venture seed-funding program is born. CHORI’s invention portfolio grows to include more than 261 patent applications, 53 issued patents, 4 start-up companies and 17 inventions licensed, with 4 currently on the market. Licensing revenues achieve a healthy $3.5 million.

2004------>
Expanding Horizons
CHORI breaks ground to expand the University High School building for Center for Immunology and Vaccine Development’s (CIVD) state-of-the-art immunology laboratories. Designed to encourage collaborative research across all divisions of inquiry into the immune system and infectious disease, the Center is a virtual powerhouse in cutting-edge vaccine development and immunological research.

2008 ------>
Sixth in NIH Funding
Grant funding for CHORI grows to more than $50 million, with endowment support of $8 million, and an overall staff of 280 under the direction of more than 35 principal investigators. This year CHORI is ranked sixth in the nation for NIH funding of children’s hospitals.

2009 ------>
Endowments: The Gifts That Keep on Giving
On behalf of herself, her late husband and his brother, Dolores Jordan gives $9.8 million to CHORI to establish The Jordan Family Center for Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapies Research. Mark Walters, MD, director of Children’s BMT program, is named the first recipient of the Jordan Family Chair. Three more endowed chairs will be announced.

Irvine McQuarrie, MD, first medical director of the Bruce Lyon Memorial Research Laboratory

<-----1973
Making a Difference – Every Day
Children’s researchers establish the Northern California Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center. It grows to become the most comprehensive Sickle Cell Center in the world, renowned for innovative, cutting-edge treatment and excellent patient care.

<----1986
Keeping Pace by Incorporating
The Bruce Lyon Memorial Research Laboratory is incorporated as a nonprofit subsidiary of the hospital and takes on a new identity as Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, written CHORI and pronounced “Korey.”

<----1997
Birth Defects Research Gets National Recognition
After 12 years at CHORI, the Center of Excellence for Birth Defects Research and Prevention becomes one of only eight other centers in the nation to receive continued funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CHORI before and after restoration

<------1999
A New Building Becomes Home
CHORI expands to a site five blocks north of Children’s main hospital by purchasing and renovating the University High School building. From junk to jewel, the renovation is not only recognized with a Governor’s Award of Excellence in Historical Preservation, it also gives CHORI more than 80,000 square feet of research space.

Global Impact: Helping Develop Meningitis Vaccine for Africa
A $70 million award from the Gates Foundation and collaboration with the World Health Organization helps CHORI researchers assist in the development of a vaccine to prevent meningitis in Sub-Saharan Africa. In that region, epidemics of the disease can kill thousands in a single season.

DNA Library Established for Researchers Worldwide
CHORI houses the largest recombinant DNA library in the world, providing 85 percent of the genes cloned for the Human Genome Project and giving researchers worldwide invaluable assistance with human DNA information.

<-------2003
Breaking the Mold
CHORI establishes the Center for Nutrition and Metabolism, spearheaded with a generous donation from CHORI’s own Bruce Ames, PhD and Giovanna Ferro-Luzzi Ames, PhD, in order to further explore the connections between diet, nutrition and disease.

Bruce Ames, PhD, and Bertram Lubin, MD

<------2007
CHORI Ventures Supports Researchers Patents and Inventions
Children’s creates CHORI Ventures, a program to encourage and support scientist-driven new technology. CHORI Ventures seed money helps researchers do proof-of-concept studies that can lead to future funding from other organizations.

Reaching Across the World - CHORI’s Children’s Global Health Initiative
More than 10 million children under the age of 5 die of diarrhea, lung infections, malaria and measles each year. Many of these deaths are complicated by malnutrition. All are preventable. CHORI starts Children’s Global Health Initiative to consolidate efforts of physicians and researchers around the world to collaborate on treatments and cures to help the world’s sickest children.

Deborah Dean, MD, MPH, in Nepal.