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A $13.5 million donation to UCLA will go towards creating the UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies, with the goal of addressing global food challenges and practices.

The institute will bring together a range of experts and individuals, including faculty, staff, students, chefs and community members.

The program will seek to generate practical solutions, said Dr. Wendelin Slusser, a professor of community health sciences, in a statement.

The institute is looking at food from a system-based, interdisciplinary perspective to contribute to the health and well-being of the individual, community and the planet, she said.

By bringing together a wide range of experts, UCLA officials hope to broaden the scope of the institute's discoveries and perspective.

Some of these grand challenges we're facing in society, like issues with the planet and food access, are complex problems that really require experts from different topics, said biophysicist Amy Rowat, a professor of integrated biology and physiology at UCLA.

Research will be conducted over the next five years, but Rowat said there are plans to update the public in six months.

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Global Food Challenges Are At The Heart Of A New UCLA Center - LAist