Prem Watsa Contributes $5 Million to IIT Madras for Brain Research

Prem Watsa, founder of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, has donated USD 5 million to his alma mater, IIT Madras, for brain research. The donation supports the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre's efforts to generate detailed images of the human brain. Watsa has previously contributed significantly to the institute.

Prem Watsa, the influential founder and chairman of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, has made a generous contribution of USD 5 million, approximately Rs 41 crore, to his alma mater, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. This funding will support cutting-edge brain research initiatives.

In 1999, Watsa was recognized as a 'Distinguished Alumnus' by IIT Madras. The institution recently inaugurated the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre in March 2022, with the aim of mapping human brain images at the cellular level, thereby advancing scientific knowledge and technological innovations.

''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,'' said Watsa, who also serves as CEO of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.

Fairfax is proud to support this groundbreaking research and development. We extend our best wishes for their continued success and future achievements in this field,'' he added in a recent press statement.

Infosys Co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, also a 'Distinguished Alumnus' of IIT Madras, commended Watsa's contribution. He highlighted that this funding complements the existing support from various philanthropic and CSR sources, enabling the brain centre to scale its research on the human brain atlas.

Professor Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, Head of the IIT Madras Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, emphasized that Watsa's generous support is critical in advancing their work towards becoming a leading global research and development hub.

In a previous act of philanthropy, Watsa inaugurated a stadium named after his father, 'Manohar C Watsa,' equipped with a state-of-the-art synthetic track, at the IIT Madras campus in May 2017.

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