Prem Watsa, Founder and Chairman of Fairfax Financial Holdings, has donated an amount of USD 5 million (approximately Rs 41 crore) to his alma mater, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, to support the prospects of brain research, stated a PTI report.
Watsa was designated as a Distinguished Alumnus by IIT Madras in 1999 and contributed to the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, launched in March 2022.
The centre aims to study the human brain at the cellular level, producing data, scientific output, and technological tools.
Watsa admired the quality of research at IIT Madras
Watsa, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Fairfax Financial Holdings, stated, as per a press note released on Tuesday, June 18, that the quality of work and the team's commitment at IIT Madras Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre is truly outstanding.
He further lauded the technology platform they have developed that generates high-resolution image volumes of the human brain and said that it was unique.
"Fairfax is pleased to support this cutting-edge research and development work and we wish them the very best to reach greater heights," he added in the press release, reported PTI.
Other alumni hold the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre in high regard
Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys Co-founder and also a Distinguished Alumnus who played a key role in establishing the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, praised Watsa's contribution.
"I compliment Prem Watsa on his contribution to the Brain Centre at IIT Madras. This augments the support the centre is already receiving from various philanthropic and CSR funds and enables the centre to scale up its research on the human brain atlas," Gopalakrishnan said.
Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, Head of the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, remarked, "This generous support from Prem Watsa will play a critical role in scaling up our work towards becoming a globally leading research and development centre."
In May 2017, Prem Watsa inaugurated a stadium at IIT Madras named after his father, Manohar C Watsa, which features a state-of-the-art synthetic track.