Selena Gomez Donates to Lupus Research at USC Medical School

Selena Gomez is using her fortune to help a cause that hits close to home. The singer/actress—who revealed that she was diagnosed with lupus in a Billboard cover story in October 2015—donated to the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, which fired up the Selena Gomez Fund for Lupus Research, People first reported.

The pilot research program will be led by Janos Peti-Peterdi, MD, PhD, a professor of biophysics at the Keck School, and will focus on complications from the autoimmune disease.

“I continue to be optimistic about the progress being made in lupus research and am proud to support the promising work at Keck School of Medicine. I am hopeful for the millions of us around the world that may benefit from this,” Gomez said in a statement.