University of Texas at Arlington alumnus Raj Nooyi and his wife, Indra, have made a $5 million gift to help position UTA at the forefront of the growing health informatics field.
The gift will fuel research excellence in the University's newly renamed Center for Innovation in Health Informatics by expanding research collaborations among the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, College of Engineering and College of Science through increased support for faculty research awards and by instituting two professorships to recruit faculty members engaged in disease modeling and surveillance. The center was formerly known as the Multi-Interprofessional Center for Health Informatics (MICHI).
"Indra and I are honored to contribute to the advancement of health informatics and are confident that our commitment will serve as a catalyst to enabling an even brighter future for UTA," said Raj Nooyi ('78 MS, Industrial Engineering). "We firmly believe in the power of education and innovation to enhance lives and are proud to help the University lead the way in this emerging discipline."
The gift will:
- Create the Raj Nooyi Endowed Research Award Fund. The endowment will provide competitive research funding for UTA faculty that will serve as seed grants to grow external research partnerships.
- Establish the Dr. Marion Jokl Ball Endowed Professorship in the College of Science. Dr. Ball has served as the executive director of MICHI since its launch in 2020 and is the Raj and Indra Nooyi Endowed Distinguished Chair in Bioengineering.
- Establish the Dr. G.T. Stevens, Jr. Endowed Professorship in the College of Engineering. The late Dr. Stevens was a former chair of the UTA Department of Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering.
"We are deeply grateful for Raj and Indra Nooyi's bold philanthropic vision to strengthen UTA's interdisciplinary research enterprise," UTA President Jennifer Cowley said. "A gift of this magnitude will provide transformational support for health informatics and help establish UTA as a national leader in this increasingly important space."
The Center for Innovation in Health Informatics will expand upon UTA's unique approach to precision health care. It will develop and use cutting-edge computational tools that can analyze health data at scale to create better and more affordable health outcomes that improve both personalized and community health.
"This generous investment will have a significant impact on our ability to drive discovery and accelerate collaboration to lead the transition from sick care to health care and to lead us toward precision health, which is where the future lies," said Dr. Ball, a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Raj Nooyi, a recipient of the 2017 UTA Distinguished Alumni Award and a former supply chain management executive, spent more than 40 years in the manufacturing industry, where he focused on designing, developing and implementing business solutions to improve supply chain operations and advance product innovation in Fortune 500 companies. He was also the former interim CEO of Plan International, a global child rights and humanitarian organization. Currently, he serves as vice chair of the UTA President's Advisory Board.
Indra Nooyi is the former chair and CEO of PepsiCo, a position she held for more than a decade. She was the architect of PepsiCo's strategic redirection, called Performance with Purpose, which successfully created long-term profitable growth while leaving a positive impact on society and the environment. She has been featured in Fortune magazine's annual list of "Most Powerful Women" on several occasions and has received similar accolades from other publications, including Forbes' list of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women."
Previously at UTA, the Nooyis established the Raj and Indra Nooyi Endowed Distinguished Chair in Bioengineering, funded scholarships for engineering students and provided programmatic support for MICHI.
- Written by Mark Permenter, Office of Development and Alumni Relations
