At a news conference in the Fulton Center Thursday, President Michael Crow announced the University has received a $10 million grant from the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust to be used for primarily for healthcare research and education.
The grant will allow ASU professionals and students to take time to research new healthcare initiatives over a period of five years, or $2 million per year.
ASU President Michael Crow said this initiative will be different from others because money will not be spent researching and doing the same things that aren’t successful over again with more money.
Instead, the new initiative is about new energy and new ideas that will increase global longevity and quality of life, Crow said.
He said the University is in the business of producing ideas, people and new tools. By approaching these three things from a new perspective, he said, the school’s results will be 100 percent better.
“We can have a positive outcome,” Crow said.
Judy Mohraz, president and CEO of the Piper Trust, spoke on behalf of all trustees.
Mohraz said ASU has always been faithful to the Piper trust and has produced great results with the money given to them.
“When the opportunity came along to address what seemed to be a practical problem that this nation is dealing with then what better way to invest Virginia’s money,” Mohraz said.
Sethuraman Panchanathan, senior vice president for Knowledge Enterprise Development, also spoke about his faith in ASU to initiate new studies that will be groundbreaking.
“What we have at ASU is fantastic ideas from fantastic people," Panchanathan said. "Our outstanding caliber faculty members attract outstanding caliber students, and that’s where the ideas emanate from."
Those involved with the new initiative will make sure the grant is not being wasted and they are determined to move forward quickly, Crow said.
ASU is re-engineering itself with better ideas and new and promising partnerships, such as the widening partnership with the Mayo Clinic that has housed ASU’s Biomedical Informatics department in Scottsdale as of August of last year, said Crow.
With the Piper Trust grant money going toward any chosen aspect of healthcare ASU seeks to improve, it is now up to students and researchers to use the money to find solutions for global health problems.
Reach the reporter at jasmine.barta@asu.edu
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