Imperial College graduate’s £25m gift to set up child health research centre

The facility will be part of a School of Public Health on Imperial College's new campus in White City
ES Local Feed

A world-leading research centre aiming to prevent chronic disease and infection in children is being established in London with a £25 million gift from a philanthropist.

Imperial College said the facility will be part of a School of Public Health on its new campus in White City.

Benefactor Marit Mohn graduated from Imperial with a Master’s degree in chemical engineering in 1973. She has previously donated to the university through her family’s charity, the Mohn Westlake Foundation. Her gift is the first in an attempt to raise £100 million for the School of Public Health.

With UCL’s Institute of Child Health, the academic wing of Great Ormond Street Hospital, it means that the capital will be home to two of the world’s most important centres for children’s healthcare and research.

Philanthropist: Marit Mohn studied chemical engineering at Imperial College as a postgraduate and has donated to the university before
Melanie Burford

Children will not be treated at White City but researchers will work in partnership with the Imperial NHS Trust, which offers specialist neonatal and paediatric care at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea and St Mary’s hospitals. Researchers at the Mohn Centre for Children’s Health and Wellbeing, due to open in 2023, will focus on asthma , childhood obesity , malnutrition and infection.

They will look to differentiate between life-threatening bacterial infections, such as meningococcal disease, the cause of meningitis and septicaemia , and less serious viral infections.

The centrepiece will be a cohort study, following a group of London children from birth into adulthood and old age. Monitoring the health and lifestyle of participants over many years will deepen understanding of childhood illness and show how disease in old age is connected to early-life experiences.

Professor Alice Gast, president of Imperial College, said: “We will learn directly from local children and their families about their health needs, and develop solutions that will have a major impact on child health and wellbeing.”

Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “This generous gift will create a pioneering centre and is a sign that London is open to ground-breaking research, talent and education.”

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