Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia will launch the Lurie Autism Institute with a $50 million gift from the Lurie family.
The donation is the largest autism research-focused gift to academic medical centers in the U.S., according to a June 10 news release from Penn Medicine.
“We established the Lurie Autism Institute to spark a new era of scientific discovery in autism,” Jeffrey Lurie, chairman and CEO of the Philadelphia Eagles and founder of the Eagles Autism Foundation, said in the release. “CHOP and Penn Medicine bring unmatched expertise and a proven record of innovation, and together, they have the tools to unlock answers that have eluded the field for far too long.”
The institute aims to advance research for individuals with autism spectrum disorder, which affects more than 75 million people globally and 1 in 31 U.S. children.
Key initiatives include:
- Advancing understanding of the biological processes and genetics underlying autism.
- Exploring how diverse behaviors across the autism spectrum develop and evolve.
- Using artificial intelligence to analyze behavioral and biological data to identify new treatment targets.
- Launching the Next-Generation Program in Autism Bioscience, a certificate program for PhD trainees and post-doctoral candidates.
“The Lurie Autism Institute will enable us to find quicker and better answers for children and adults living with this complex condition,” CHOP CEO Madeline Bell said in the release.
