NEW YORK – The NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan has received a $100 million gift from the Druckenmiller Foundation to establish a state-of-the-art neuroscience institute.

Robert I. Grossman, MD, the medical center's dean and CEO, said the gift would provide for the recruitment and support of neuroscientists, enabling the medical center to become a leader in translational neuroscience. The funds will also be used to help promote the education and training of neuroscientists as well as support a dedicated neuroscience facility.

"Because we already have world-class expertise in neuroscience, I believe the momentum generated by this gift will take us to a new pinnacle in clinical and research excellence in this field," said Grossman, in a statement released by NYU.

NYU Langone Medical Center has announced four nine-figure gifts in a 15-month period and claims it's the only nonprofit organization in the United States to have done so. In 2008, the medical center raised $506 million – which NYU officials say is the largest amount raised by any academic medical center in a 12-month-period – and has raised nearly $700 million in less than two years.

Fiona Druckenmiller, a former portfolio manager at the Dreyfus Corporation, has been a trustee of the medical center since 2006. Stanley Druckenmiller, founder of Duquesne Capital Management, is also an active volunteer and chairman of the Harlem Children's Zone. Together, they have given more than $46 million to support various services and initiatives associated with NYU Langone Medical Center.

"The Druckenmillers conceptualized this gift out of interest in the healthy brain and understanding how the brain functions," said Ken Langone, chairman of the board of trustees at the NYU Langone Medical Center.

Robert Berne, senior vice president for health at NYU, said the need for philanthropic endeavors has increased in difficult economic times as "the needs of the community become more complex."