Just as Stanford Hospital & Clinics begins its billion-dollar renovation, it has received a $20 million donation to pursue the future of medicine.

John Scully MBA ‘68 and his wife Regina announced their donation Wednesday, earmarking the money for the University’s research and application of stem-cell therapies.

“We are attracted to the big problems with the best potential for significant improvement in the human experience,” Scully said in a press release. “For some time we have thought the field of stem cell research and, ultimately, therapies is such an opportunity.”

The $20 million in funding will create a new facility for the research of stem cell and regenerative medicine therapies, as well as support the eventual construction of space for their application at the new Stanford Hospital.

Scully is currently the managing director of SPO Partners & Co. in Mill Valley, Calif. As an alum of the Graduate School of Business, he may not have a background in medicine, but he has served on the board of directors for Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, and as vice chair of the board of directors for both Stanford Hospital and the University’s Board of Trustees.

The School of Medicine hopes to break ground on the research center “Stanford Institutes of Medicine 1” later this year, with reconstruction of Stanford Hospital expected to follow in 2010 for completion by 2015.

“Promoting rapid transfer of breakthrough discoveries into the care of patients is what has distinguished Stanford Hospital through its history,” said Martha Marsh, president and CEO of Stanford Hospital & Clinics, in a press release. “The Scullys’ generous gift will assure that this legacy continues in the new Stanford Hospital now being planned.”