Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay will donate $3 million to IU to fund the creation of a mental health research institute, according to a News at IU press release.
The Irsay Family Research Institute will be located in a renovated section of Morrison Hall and will focus on reducing the stigma associated with mental health, according to the release. The institute aims to provide support for researchers in the study of health and health care, as well as conducting more interdisciplinary research in sociomedical science.
Sociomedical science, according to the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, is an interdisciplinary field that is dedicated to “understanding and addressing the social, political, historical, cultural, psychological, and economic forces that influence health outcomes.”
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Irsay said he was excited to work with IU because the school is a leader in the study of mental health.
"The stigma surrounding mental health is a matter of life and death, and we must do everything possible to lessen that stigma and remove this obstacle to people getting the help they need," Irsay said.
IU sociology professor Bernice Pescosolido will lead the institute, according to the release. Pescosolido is the director of IU's Indiana Consortium for Mental Health Services Research and an elected member of both the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.
"We look forward to our partnership with the Colts and to the continued groundbreaking work of IU researchers at the Irsay Family Research Institute,” IU President Pamela Whitten said.
