In the next four years, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is set to emerge as an important institute contributing significantly in research and field data-based policies around public health. Recent contributions towards the Centre for Public Health and Policy Research on the campus, adjacent to the upcoming medical hospital, is going to offer a 360-degree approach to the institute, says Ajit Isaac, Chairman, Quess Corp, in an exclusive interview to TNIE.
Ajit Isaac and his wife Sarah Isaac made a commitment to donate Rs 105 crore to set up the centre. According to him, 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 IISc.
The idea took seed about six months ago, when IISc’s director approached Ajit Isaac, proposing the setting up of a super speciality hospital. The Isaac Foundation was already setting up a paediatric centre at Christian Medical College, Vellore and didn’t want to digress, so he told them he would be interested in setting up a public health research institute adjacent to the hospital.
Helping with governance
IISc can become an important institute that can help the government come up with research and field data-based policies around public health, Isaac said. “During an epidemic, when the country or state is dealing with zillions of data of people, paradigms of behaviours that change in the context of circumstances, vaccines, weather, climate change, water and sanitation, sewage etc, there is a need to triangulate all this and help state governments bring out policies and develop governance guidelines. It needs computational abilities which IISc has,” he added.
Explaining that the centre will offer dual degree programmes such as MPH-PhD and MPH-MTech, Isaac said it will also fund research projects on public health, support international fellowships for students, scholarships, visiting chairs and endowed chair professorships, and also field projects. IISc has decided on six projects, which will cover chronic disease areas of India. “Diabetes and cardiac care are two instances which we necessarily have to investigate,” Isaac said. The centre was born in the middle of a pandemic and it’s still too early to analyse its effects. The Long COVID phenomenon and mental health will also be expected sectors for research, he added.
Asked if he thinks there is a growing trend of first-generation contributors, Isaac said, “With capital markets growing and the ability to find liquidity for some enterprises that entrepreneurs have invested in, clearly there is a trend to give back part of the harvest to society in some way.”
