Bengaluru IISc to set up public health centre with Rs105 cr funding from philanthropist

The student intake will be about 10 per year with a steady-state student population of about 40 over time. According to the IISc, the centre will have state-of-the-art biomedical research computing infrastructure to host data as well as develop and test big data analysis methods tailored for public health.

Govindan Rangarajan, director of the IISc, said, “There is an acute need for India to have a world-class centre for clinical and academic research in public health to be able to make quicker and more impactful strides in realising the goal of quality healthcare for all. The proposed centre will interface between all the departments of the IISc Medical School, and also other science and engineering departments of the IISc in the context of public health research. In particular, the centre will create a niche for health data science and analytics through close collaboration with the existing world-class computer science and data science departments at the IISc, putting it on par with international counterparts like the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. We are grateful for such contributions from philanthropic leaders like Mr and Mrs Isaac who make it possible for us to move from aspirations to actually realising our goals.”

Speaking on the collaboration, Ajit, founder and chairman of Quess Corp, said nations would take several years to recover from the humanitarian crisis created by the pandemic. “At the same time, it has also exposed the lacunae in the public health systems, which need to be addressed systematically and consistently to be prepared for the future. A strong nation is not only built on education and employment but good, sound public health. And the onus of building a healthier future cannot lie on the government alone, and I am glad to have the opportunity to work alongside an internationally acclaimed institution like the IISc, which provides the right ecosystem for creating world-class physician-scientists, the medical talent of the future.”

The proposed Isaac Centre for Public Health will be located in the IISc Medical School’s academic and research block and spread over 27,000 sq ft. The centre will also offer courses in statistics, epidemiology and data science. The MTech (research) programme will be tailored towards acquiring deep domain expertise in data science, public health data analytics, and artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques.

The funding also supports international fellowships for students, scholarships, visiting chair professorships and endowed chair professorships. The centre will also provide funding for research projects such as in bio-surveillance, digital health and mobile-based diagnostics.

Earlier this year, the IISc announced the establishment of a postgraduate medical school and a multispeciality hospital on its campus in line with global examples of providing science, engineering and medicine education under a single institution. The centre for public health is an extension of this commitment towards collaborating with like-minded institutions and visionaries who seek to shape the future of healthcare in the country, said the statement.