Brown Gift to Spark ‘Exciting’ Science
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowTech entrepreneur and Interactive Intelligence founder Don Brown says he hopes his $30 million gift to the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis will "give us a focal point in what I consider the most exciting area in all of science." The gift will establish the Brown Center for Immunotherapy. Brown is also involved with a startup focusing on genetic testing and genomics, which he says can help lead to personalized medicine and treatments.
The med school says the $30 million gift is its largest ever from an alumnus. Brown holds multiple degrees from Indiana University. Brown says he has additional philanthropic plans for the school of medicine. "I’ve got eight children, I’ve endowed eight chairs, so I’ve got four to go at some point."
Part of Brown’s most recent gift will endow multiple faculty chairs, including the Don Brown Chair in Immunotherapy, which will direct the center. The rest of the funding will support infrastructure, technology and research.
Brown says it was important for him to take part of the "fruit of my efforts" to give back to the community. Interactive Intelligence sold this year to Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc. for $1.4 billion. He says his life has not been about accumulating wealth, but doing things "that benefit not just me and not just my family, but society as a whole." He says, ultimately, "I’ve always wanted to build teams and do really interesting things."
Brown will be a guest this weekend on Inside INdiana Business Television.
