IISc inks MoU with Quess Corp to set up Centre for Public Health, Rs 105 Cr pledged  

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), on Thursday, March 17, entered into an MoU with Ajit Isaac, Founder and Chairman of Quess Corp, and Sarah Isaac, to establish a Centre for Public Health at the IISc campus. "Mr and Mrs Isaac have committed a sum of Rs 105 crore towards setting up this centre, which will be called the Isaac Centre for Public Health (ICPH), and will be a part of the postgraduate medical school, soon to be established on campus", a release said.

The centre will be operational by 2024 and is expected to encourage aspirants to pursue careers in clinical research to develop new treatments and healthcare solutions driven by a "bench-to-bedside philosophy", it said. The centre will offer dual degree programmes such as Master of Public Health (MPH)-PhD (5-6 years) and Master of Public Health (MPH)-MTech Research (3 years). The Centre will also host state-of-the-art biomedical research computing infrastructure to host the data, develop and test big data analysis methods tailored for public health, it was stated.

IISc Director Prof Govindan Rangarajan, Director, Indian Institute of Science, was quoted as saying, “The proposed centre will interface between all the departments of the IISc Medical School and also other science and engineering departments of IISc in the context of public health research." Ajit Isaac said the humanitarian crises created by the pandemic will take several years for nations to recover, adding, at the same time, it has also exposed the lacuna in the public health systems, which need to be addressed systematically and consistently to be prepared for the future.

The proposed Isaac Centre for Public Health will be located in the IISc Medical School's Academic and Research block and span one floor spread over 27,000 sq ft.