Arizona State University announced Monday that the university received a $50 million gift that will be split evenly between the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, located at the Downtown campus, and the Biodesign Institute in Tempe.
The College of Nursing and Health Innovation was immediately renamed the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation as a result of the $25 million donation.
The donation was made by Charlene and J. Orin Edson, who run the J Orin Edson Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to support the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Mayo Clinic and the ASU Foundation.
According to an online announcement and press release, the nursing school will use the gift to advance research on simulation to prepare nurses and other health care providers, focusing on treating dementia.
“I think it’s pretty important research, until we have cures, that we pay attention to the impact of these very debilitating, chronic cognitive disorders on individuals and their families,” Judith Karshmer, Dean of the College of Nursing, said in ASU’s announcement video.
ASU has received two record-breaking donations this school year, but the Edsons’ gift is the largest donation in the university’s history. In fall 2018, Mike and Cindy Watts donated $30 million to the now-renamed Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions.
The donation will go toward setting up the Grace Center, which is named after Charlene Edson’s mother. It will be located at ASU’s Downtown campus in the Mercado A building at 641 East Van Buren Street.
Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan, Vice President of ASU Knowledge Enterprise and Chief Research and Innovation officer at ASU, said the donation will transform the way dementia patients will be treated.
“This is a transformational gift that is going to create a huge impact in enhancing the quality of life of patients afflicted with this disease,” Panchanathan said.
Emily Pascua, a kinesiology major, said she hopes the donation will help bring more students to ASU to continue researching this disease and that new advancements will be made in finding cures.
“I hope that the grant will allow the opportunity needed to those who are going to show us something we have not seen and understood before in hopes that the discoveries will lead to a possible cure,” Pascua said.
At the Grace Center, different simulation exercises and academic research will be used to train students to care for their patients and transition into practice.
“We take very seriously the ASU Charter about embedded and meaningful research,” Karshmer said in the announcement video. “So you’ll see our researchers out in the community and the aging, cognitive impairment, and dementia area is one that we have already built a strong linkage with a lot of community partners.”
With new research plans and academic advancement already underway, Panchanathan said he feels like the university is ready to improve the lives of those affected by dementia and prevent it from affecting more patients.
“Dementia is a health issue that touches everyone, from the person afflicted to their friends, their family, and to those who provide the care,” Panchanathan said. “We at ASU feel that we need to make every effort to understand the causes of dementia and also provide better care for patients living with the disease. We do that through both education and discovery.”
Contact the reporter at ldiethel@asu.edu.
Update: On March 26, this story was updated to reflect that the Edsons’ gift is the largest in the university’s history.
Lisa Diethelm is the Politics editor for the Downtown Devil while she studies at The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in downtown Phoenix. She grew up in California and started her journalism career in high school.
