A generous gift from a longtime donor will help create a new student scholarship and a professorship at Carle Illinois College of Medicine.
One of CI MED’s faithful donors, Dave Downey, has committed to a generous $2 million gift to the college. Half of the gift will fund a professorship in clinical translational research or innovation; the other half will support a student scholarship with preference for a student from Illinois. Downey’s gift honors former Chancellor Phyllis Wise, who played a crucial role in in founding CI MED, the world’s first engineering-based college of medicine.
Downey has been enthusiastic in embracing the vision of CI MED’s founders. “The university has one of the best public engineering colleges in the world. Carle Illinois leverages our faculty’s renowned engineering and technical skills and applies them to all aspects of medical training and innovation,” Downey said.
Downey and his wife Jane Hays have been deeply involved in the Champaign-Urbana, Carle Health, and University of Illinois communities for years. The couple previously gifted the college $1m for the Phyllis M. Wise Center for Student Excellence Fund, supporting student affairs programming.
CI MED leaders expect to establish the new professorship and the new scholarship by the end of 2025.