Gates gift launches global health center

SEATTLE – The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is giving $105 million to the University of Washington for a research center to assess the performance of global health programs.

The donation announced Monday is the largest private gift the school has received, university President Mark A. Emmert said. The university – which gets more government money for scientific research than any other public university – is putting $20 million toward the new institute.

“There has been a huge increase in resources for global health in recent years, and it’s essential to evaluate the impact of these investments. With high-quality data, we can ensure resources go where they are needed most, and dramatically improve health care delivery,” said Dr. Tadataka “Tachi” Yamada, president of the Gates Foundation’s Global Health Program, in a statement issued before the official announcement.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation will be directed by Christopher J.L. Murray, former director of Harvard’s institute for public health. Murray was chosen to lead the Ellison Institute for World Health at Harvard until last year, when Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison pulled the $115 million he had promised to Harvard.

The University of Washington research center will collect and analyze data on health indicators and trends, such as the availability of health care and the spread of disease. It will study the results of health programs and will make health data freely available to policymakers, researchers and the public.

The university said it expects the institute to hire more than 100 faculty and staff and set up a collaboration network among research centers.

“We hope to set the gold standard for scientifically rigorous evaluation in health,” said Murray, a health economist.

The institute will be led by a board of health experts chaired by Dr. Julio Frenk, a senior fellow at the Gates Foundation and Mexico’s former minister of health.