More than 20 million Americans are living with an autoimmune disease—many of which are debilitating, some of which are life-threatening—and the rate of diagnosis is rising steadily. At the same time, a growing amount of evidence suggests that many autoimmune diseases long believed to be distinct from one another are related, which offers hope that a deeper understanding of underlying causes could yield breakthroughs that would make a profound difference for patients.

The scale of the challenge and of the opportunity demands an organized, systematic response akin to those rolled out for other urgent public health issues. Responding to this need, philanthropic leaders Judith and Stewart Colton have made a number of transformational gifts across several preeminent medical schools to establish a network of independent but cooperative research centers that share one common mission: to accelerate the development of new ways to diagnose, prevent, and treat these devastating illnesses.

Inspired by the experience of their son, who was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, the Coltons have made generous gifts to NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, and Tel Aviv University, establishing a Colton Center for Autoimmunity at each institution, with the centers collectively known as the Colton Consortium.

Each Colton Center is based upon the simple but powerful idea that researchers and doctors involved with autoimmune diseases of all types, from neurological disorders like multiple sclerosis to rheumatic conditions like psoriatic arthritis, should collaborate frequently, intentionally, and seamlessly. To that end, the Colton Consortium provides the vision, the leadership, and the resources to foster innovative cross-disciplinary collaboration at each institution and across our several locations.

Each participating center has already catalyzed important progress that have led to significant discoveries, and, as the centers work more closely together through the consortium, they will become the leading edge of a movement that will alter the landscape of autoimmune disease research and care at their home institution and far beyond.