June 11, 2018

Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering receives five-year, $10 million renewal

The Regenstrief Foundation recently renewed its financial support for Purdue's Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering. The $10 million commitment was announced in May 2018 and supports RCHE from 2019 to 2024. 

“We are extremely grateful to the Regenstrief Foundation for the continuation of their generous support of RCHE," says Suresh Garimella, executive vice president for research and partnerships and the Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering. “This support not only will help RCHE to continue to advance research that improves the efficiency and effectiveness of our health care delivery system, but provides a permanent foundation from which RCHE will continue to grow.”

Half of the funding will be used for operations of RCHE to achieve its mission to achieve a proactive, patient-centered and wellness-focused health care delivery system. The remaining $5 million will be used as matching funds to encourage endowed gifts that will sustain RCHE’s mission and goals. After the matching effort led by Purdue’s University Development Office, a total of $14 million will be available to support faculty through named professorships and students in their research through graduate fellowships and scholarships.

Paul Griffin, RCHE director and the St. Vincent Health Chair and professor in the schools of Industrial Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, says that the funding will support faculty recruitment, undergraduate and graduate student support, and information technology infrastructure. In addition, it allows for increased research funding in the strategic focus areas of data science methods for evidence-based health, systems-based approaches to effectively match health-based resources to need, and improving access to vulnerable populations in rural/global areas.

Craig Brater, president of the Regenstrief Foundation, says the foundation's support of and relationship with Purdue’s RCHE is a longstanding one. “Establishing this matching grant will better leverage our contributions with the support of other interested parties to build the capabilities of RCHE for the long term," Brater says. "The earnings from the combined endowment of $14 million will provide the flexibility to achieve RCHE’s goals.”  

Established in 2005, RCHE emphasizes collaboration among a variety of disciplines in research and outreach. The center is made up of Purdue Healthcare Advisors, the nonprofit outreach arm of RCHE including over 30 specialists with service lines in health IT security, quality services, and lean methodology, as well as several faculty and clinical affiliates, research scientists, and IT staff to conduct research to improve the quality, accessibility, equity, and affordability of health care delivery.  In addition to funding from the Regenstrief Foundation, RCHE is supported with grants from several state and federal agencies. RCHE is able to leverage each dollar from the foundation to at least three dollars from external grants and contracts.

About the Regenstrief Foundation

The Indianapolis-based Regenstrief Foundation was created in 1967 by Sam Regenstrief and his wife, Myrtie. Sam’s innovative production techniques led to the establishment of one of the world’s largest dishwashing companies, producing over 40 percent of the world’s dishwashers at one point.  The Regenstrief Foundation, a result of Sam and Myrtie’s philanthropy, began support of the Regenstrief Institute in 1969 and support for RCHE in 2005.  The nature of the work of the foundation is to promote Sam’s vision “to bring to the practice of medicine the most modern scientific advances from engineering, business, and the social sciences, and to foster the rapid dissemination into medical practice of the new knowledge created by research.”

Contact: Paul Griffin, paulgriffin@purdue.edu

Sources: Suresh Garimella, sureshg@purdue.edu
Paul Griffin, paulgriffin@purdue.edu
Craig Brater, dbrater@iu.edu


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