Our Founding Chairman, Charles "Chuck" Feeney, proposes grants to the Board that better the lives of people in a variety of countries. These grants generally pertain to the expansion, usually through co-financing, of building projects for higher education and medical research facilities.
A focus of his support is to encourage medical researchers and university leaders at Atlantic-supported institutions in Australia, the United States and Viet Nam to collaborate on research in an effort to develop biomedical breakthroughs greater than any single institution can achieve alone. The ultimate goal is to generate sustainable scientific progress and improve health care for more disadvantaged and vulnerable people. These efforts include the development of human vaccines for dengue fever, animal vaccines to prevent slaughters of herds from epidemics, establishment of advanced neurological imaging facilities and collaboration on nursing projects to tackle skills shortages.
Similarly, Mr. Feeney had the farsighted plan of supporting higher education in Ireland in the first two decades of The Atlantic Philanthropies. The foundation’s investments in many underfinanced institutions and sections of the country increased research and access to education that culminated in a strong Irish economy until the global recession of 2008.
30 August 2010