$1 million gift from Manizheh Yomtoubian establishes faculty chair at UCLA engineering

The UCLA Samueli School of Engineering has received a $1 million gift from longtime UCLA health care practitioner and philanthropist Manizheh Yomtoubian.

The gift establishes the Neria and Manizheh Yomtoubian Endowed Chair in Cancer and Risk Sciences, and it triggered an additional $1 million from a matching fund established in 2016 by the Samueli Foundation to spur the creation of endowed chairs for UCLA Engineering faculty.

Yomtoubian is active in raising awareness and philanthropic support for health issues among the Iranian American community in Los Angeles. Born and raised in Shiraz, Iran, she worked as a nurse and clinical nurse specialist at UCLA for nearly two decades. Her late husband, Neria, was an accomplished electrical engineer who worked at Mater Specialties, an aerospace company in Costa Mesa, California. With his business partner, Neria developed a voice-warning system for aircrafts, and later used the technology to make the first talking calculators and a talking multimeter for measuring voltage, current and resistance for visually impaired engineers and technicians.

In honor of Neria’s memory, Manizheh Yomtoubian established a foundation and the Neria and Manizheh Yomtoubian Sanctuary in Orange County, California.

The Neria and Manizheh Yomtoubian Endowed Chair in Cancer and Risk Sciences is intended to support a UCLA faculty member whose specialty lies at the intersection of engineering, medicine and cancer research, and who is actively involved in the community.

UCLA has appointed Dr. Arash Naeim as the first professor to hold the new position. An accomplished oncologist and bioengineer, Naeim specializes in health services, informatics, health policy and quality-of-care issues. His primary focus is on integrating new technologies and data analytics to reduce the risk for cancer and complications through personalized treatment for vulnerable populations.

CTSI congratulates Dr. Naeim on his new position. Naeim holds pivotal roles in the UCLA CTSI as a Senior Associate Director and Leader in the Network Capacity, Regulatory and Participant and Clinical Interactions Programs. 

Read the full UCLA press release.

Image source: UCLA Center for SMART Health

Image caption: Dr. Arash Naeim, the inaugural chair holder, specializes in health services, informatics, health policy and quality-of-care issues.