Prem Watsa Donates $5 Million To IIT Madras For Brain Research Advancement

Prem Watsa, founder and chairman of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., has donated $5 million (approximately Rs 41 crore) to his alma mater, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, to advance brain research.

Watsa, recognised as a 'Distinguished Alumnus' by the institute in 1999, expressed admiration for the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre at IIT Madras. Launched in March 2022, the centre aims to capture images of the human brain at cellular levels, generating data, scientific output, and technology tools.

"The quality of work and the team's commitment at IIT Madras Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre is truly outstanding. The technology platform they have developed that generates high-resolution image volumes of the human brain is very unique," noted Watsa, who also serves as the CEO of Fairfax Financial Holdings.

Fairfax Financial Holdings, under Watsa's leadership, has pledged its support to this cutting-edge research and development initiative. In a press release on Tuesday, Watsa stated, "We are pleased to support this work and wish them the very best to reach greater heights."

Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys and another distinguished alumnus, praised Watsa's contribution. He remarked, "I compliment Prem Watsa on his contribution to the Brain Centre at IIT Madras. This augments the support the centre is already receiving from various philanthropic and CSR funds and enables the centre to scale up its research on the human brain atlas."

Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, head and professor at IIT Madras Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, highlighted the significance of Watsa's generous support. He stated, "This contribution from Prem Watsa will play a critical role in scaling up our work towards becoming a globally leading research and development centre."

In a separate initiative at IIT Madras, Watsa inaugurated a stadium in May 2017 named after his father, 'Manohar C Watsa'. The facility includes a state-of-the-art synthetic track.