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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his partner Priscilla Chan announced the birth of their baby, Max, with a letter detailing their plans for a new charity initiative.

As part of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the couple will fund disease research, they wrote in the note.

« Our initial areas of focus will be personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities, » they wrote.

Zuckerberg and Chan pledged to give 99% of their Facebook shares, worth about $45 billion, to the initiative, with likely a few billion of that going toward developing cures for diseases.

« Once we recognize that your generation and your children’s generation may not have to suffer from disease, we collectively have a responsibility to tilt our investments a bit more towards the future to make this reality. Your mother and I want to do our part. »

Zuckerberg and Chan were pragmatic about advancing disease treatments and cures. 

« Curing disease will take time. Over short periods of five or ten years, it may not seem like we’re making much of a difference. But over the long term, seeds planted now will grow, and one day, you or your children will see what we can only imagine: a world without suffering from disease. »

With $45 billion to give away, and with health research getting some part of that, the world likely be a healthier place for baby Max.

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from Business Insider http://ift.tt/1l6bVLQ