After losing their only child, Daniel, to addiction in 2024, Ellen and John Broadhurst began searching for a way to help other families facing the disease.
The couple recently established the Daniel Broadhurst Addiction Research Award at UCSF’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), creating a new source of funding for innovative addiction research aimed at improving treatment for people struggling with addiction to illicit and prescription drugs. By naming the award after their son, they hope to advance understanding of addiction while helping reduce the stigma surrounding the disease.
“We have confidence that UCSF will move the trajectory in the right direction,” John said. “We're hopeful this gift will help move the field forward.”
Danny’s Life and Legacy
Friends and family remember Danny as someone who could light up a room. Kind, thoughtful and deeply compassionate, he built a community around fitness and bodybuilding, mentoring others in nutrition and exercise.
“He made people feel really comfortable,” Ellen said. “He was extremely personable and he touched a lot of lives.”
Behind that outward confidence, however, Danny struggled with addiction for more than a decade, cycling through multiple rehabilitation programs. His periods of sobriety and relapse took an emotional toll on the entire family.
Over time, the combination of bodybuilding, drug use and the physical strain on his body contributed to serious health complications, including testicular cancer, an enlarged heart and breathing difficulties.
Danny’s journey exposed the Broadhursts to the limitations of current addiction treatment and unanswered questions about why addiction affects some people more severely than others.
“There’s no magic pill to treat addiction,” John said. “Scientists don’t know why some people become addicted and others don’t. They don’t know what happens in the brain or how to untangle it.”
Believing that better answers begin with better science, the Broadhursts decided to invest in research rather than another treatment program.
The Daniel Broadhurst Addiction Research Award
The Broadhursts chose to direct their gift through CTSI because of its collaborative, campuswide approach to research. CTSI supports clinical and translational research across UCSF’s schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy, and the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs, allowing researchers from multiple disciplines to contribute to addiction science.
“UCSF has a very multidisciplinary and robust research environment with many research teams focused on improving care for people with addiction,” said Vanessa Jacoby, MD, MAS, associate vice chancellor for clinical research and director of CTSI. “Researchers consider the whole person and the context in which addiction happens and aim to ensure that our therapies, research and community engagement reach all populations."
The Daniel Broadhurst Addiction Research Award will provide pilot funding for UCSF researchers developing innovative approaches to understanding, preventing and treating addiction to illicit and prescription drugs. The award is designed to support early-stage projects across disciplines, including basic science, clinical research, public health and novel therapeutic approaches.
“This pilot award allows researchers to test innovative new ideas — from studying the biological mechanisms of addiction to exploring new therapies — and generate the data needed to pursue larger studies,” Jacoby said. “John and Ellen’s generosity is helping catalyze addiction research at a crucial moment.”
The award is already putting that vision into action through its first two recipients, both in the Department of Neurology’s Alcohol and Addiction Research Group.
Khaled Moussawi, MD, PhD, an associate professor and the recipient of the Howard L. Fields Endowed Chair in Pharmacology of Addiction in Neurology, will explore whether focused ultrasound can alter brain activity in deep brain areas that are associated with the negative emotional states that drive opioid use disorder.
Elyssa Margolis, PhD, a professor and recipient of the Endowed Chair in Genetics of Addiction in Neurology, will investigate whether blocking a specific opioid receptor in the brain could offer a new approach to treating opioid use disorder.
Reducing the Stigma of Addiction
By attaching Danny’s name to the award, the Broadhursts hope to encourage more open conversations about addiction, inspire greater support for addiction research and help other families feel less alone.
“We wanted people to see that it can happen to anybody,” Ellen said.
Jacoby said the couple’s gift has already made an impact across the UCSF research community.
“Their honesty in sharing their story and their generosity in turning grief into a gift to catalyze research are inspiring to me and to our researchers,” Jacoby said. “It reminds us why we need to continue addressing this critical health crisis.”
The family hopes Danny’s legacy will live on through discoveries that may one day improve care for others facing addiction.
“Addiction is a terrible disease that affects every member of the family and causes tremendous familial conflict,” John said. “Despite all that, we remember Danny for his kind and generous spirit.”