Judith and Stewart Colton’s $5 million gift to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai will establish a new Colton Center for Autoimmunity, extending the family’s deeply personal commitment to accelerating discoveries that can lead to earlier diagnosis, more personalized treatments, and fuller, healthier lives for people with autoimmune diseases.
From left: Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD; Miriam Merad, MD, PhD; Judith Colton; Shruti Naik, PhD; and Stewart Colton at a private reception to celebrate the establishment of the Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Mount Sinai.
Housed within the Marc and Jennifer Lipschultz Precision Immunology Institute, the Center will join the Colton Consortium for Autoimmunity, a global partnership of leading research institutions that share data and work together to move new discoveries to patients faster—in the form of better tests, treatments, and ways to spot disease early.
Their gift comes at a moment when the need for answers is especially urgent. Autoimmune diseases—conditions in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue—are among the most challenging illnesses in medicine. More than 15 million Americans live with one of more than 105 autoimmune diseases, which together can affect nearly every organ in the body. Although these diseases are becoming more common, many patients still wait too long for a diagnosis and face unpredictable symptoms and limited treatment options.
For the Colton family, this initiative is both a philanthropic investment and a personal mission. Their commitment began in 2001, after a loved one’s experience with autoimmune disease inspired a lasting dedication to helping other patients and families facing similar struggles.
Since then, the family has established Colton Centers at NYU Langone Health, Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, and Tel Aviv University. With Mount Sinai joining this growing network, the Coltons are deepening a legacy of generosity that has already helped shape the field of autoimmunity research across institutions.
At Mount Sinai, the Coltons’ support will help advance a precision immunology approach that looks across autoimmune diseases to identify shared biological roots and translate those insights into better care. The new Center will be led by Shruti Naik, PhD, Associate Professor of Immunology and Immunotherapy at Mount Sinai, with Miriam Merad, MD, PhD serving as Co-Director. Dr. Merad is Dean for Translational Research and Therapeutic Innovation, Chair of the Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy, and Director of the Marc and Jennifer Lipschultz Precision Immunology Institute.
"We are thrilled to have Mount Sinai join the Colton Consortium, bringing expertise in autoimmunity and immune profiling that will complement existing work at the other four Colton centers," says Colton Consortium Director John Wherry, PhD. "This expansion of the Consortium will further catalyze the impact of discovery science on diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of autoimmunity."
The promise of the Center lies in pairing Mount Sinai’s scientific strengths with the Colton Consortium’s collaborative model. This will help to better understand what autoimmune diseases have in common, even when they affect different parts of the body, such as the brain in multiple sclerosis, the joints in rheumatoid arthritis, or the kidneys in lupus. The Coltons’ $5 million gift will help researchers build on successful discovery and clinical-trial platforms in cancer and other inflammatory diseases, gather data across conditions with Consortium partners, and identify earlier warning signs and more effective treatment approaches for patients.
"Judith and Stewart Colton have built something remarkable—a consortium across institutions that is redefining how autoimmune disease is understood and treated," says Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "We are very honored to be part of the Colton Consortium. Their investment in our new Center reflects both extraordinary generosity and a deep appreciation of what it takes to transform scientific discovery into meaningful improvements in patient care and outcomes."
The new Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Mount Sinai will be introduced at the 2026 Consortium for Autoimmunity Symposium, taking place July 28–30 in New York City. There, Drs. Naik and Merad will share their vision for the Center and highlight recent progress in autoimmune disease research. The symposium will also offer a first look at the work ahead, made possible by Judith and Stewart Colton’s generosity and their enduring belief in the power of collaboration to change the future for patients.
