University of Exeter receives largest ever single gift of £10m
Melanie May | 18 April 2018 | News
The Dennis and Mireille Gillings Foundation has given the University of Exeter its largest ever single gift of £10m.
The Foundation’s donation will fund new Mireille Gillings Neuroimaging Centre at the University of Exeter Medical School, which will focus on dementia research and diagnosis.
The new building, located at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust (RD&E) site, will help accelerate clinical trials for potential dementia treatments over the next five years. It should double the number of dementia drugs in development, through the use of new brain-scanning technology and techniques to diagnose and assess the impacts of potential therapies for Alzheimer’s.
The £10 million gift will also be used to help improve cancer diagnosis by GPs and to support the next generation of medical leaders.
Dr Mireille Gillings is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of HUYA Bioscience International, which specialises in accelerating development of biopharma innovation from China.
Dr Gillings said:
“As a neuroscientist I understand that the application of new scanning technology and techniques has the potential to transform neurological research. This new, state-of-the-art imaging centre will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in the molecular understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of Alzheimer’s and other neurological disease.”
Professor Clive Ballard, Dean of the University of Exeter Medical School said:
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“This incredibly generous gift will help us make a real difference to people with dementia across the world. We urgently need new treatments. This new imaging centre will help us conduct innovative new trials to find them.”
Main image: Mireille and Dennis Gillings
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.