Philanthropic donations have flowed into the university in the past two years,with a record-breaking $145 million given in 2020.
“We are tapping into a level of generosity,with donors looking for ways to have a profound impact. They want to drive ambitious research and help take on the great global challenges,” Scott said.
Chancellor Belinda Hutchinson said the Wakils were “extraordinary philanthropists that have now gifted[the university] more than $66 million,which is the largest named donation to a single institution in NSW history”.
The new health and research facility,known as the Sydney biomedical accelerator,will spread across three buildings on 36,000 square metres next to RPA and the university’s Camperdown campus.
Scott said the venture will link “scientific and clinical minds with entrepreneurs,industry and government” to tackle complex health challenges,including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases using nanotechnology and gene and stem cell therapy. About $143 million in separate funding for the facility was announced by the state government in June.
“The diseases we will be attacking need a genuine multidisciplinary response,and that’s what a great comprehensive university can do,” Scott said,adding the facility would be benchmarked against international medical institutes including Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet and University of Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District.
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“We are attacking the diseases that still remain incurable,and where researchers have toiled for decades and not had the breakthroughs they’ve sought,” he said.
About 1200 biomedical researchers and clinician scientists will work in the building that will bring together seven schools including pharmacy,chemistry and medical sciences.
Another $26 million has been donated to the project from late general practitioner Marie Knispel.
Scott said the “transformation in the philanthropic landscape over the past decade has been remarkable,largely led by the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne.”
“Increasingly universities are looking for partners to help change the world through research and that’s where you are finding philanthropic partnership takes place. It is very different to donating a hall.”
Architecture firms Denton Corker Marshall and HDR will design the new building,which will open in 2026.
Richard Payne,a professor of organic chemistry who specialises in heart disease and anti-inflammatory drugs at the University of Sydney,said the biomedical site would pull together science and engineering researchers that currently sit in separate schools.
“The only way to tackle global health challenges is to bring disciplines together. Universities have not connected well with local industry in the past and having researchers on one site will help medical discoveries be translated to the clinic and to the patient,” Payne said.
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