The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation has pledged a historic $750 million to the University of Texas at Austin. This massive donation will be used to develop a state-of-the-art hospital and research campus in the city.
The Dell Inc. founder and his wife’s announcement on Tuesday, April 21, makes the couple UT Austin’s first-ever billion-dollar donors. To honor their investment, the university is establishing the UT Dell Campus for Advanced Research and the UT Dell Medical Center to advance human health, according to a news release.
“UT Austin, where Dell Technologies was founded from a dorm room, has always been a place where bold ideas become real-world impact,” said Michael and Susan Dell in a release. “What makes this moment so meaningful is the opportunity to build something that brings every part of the journey together — from how students learn, to how discoveries are made, to how care reaches families.”
UT Austin’s upcoming Dell Campus for Advanced Research and the UT Dell Medical Center will be located on the university’s former West Pickle Research Campus in North Austin. These projects aim to shape the future of life sciences and academic medicine as well as make Austin a destination for world-class health care.
This new funding will provide support for undergraduate student scholarships, student housing and UT’s Texas Advanced Computing Center, one of the nation’s leading supercomputing research centers. The university is planning to break ground on the UT Dell Medical Center later this year and estimates to open the facility by 2030.
“By bringing together medicine, science and computing in one campus designed for the AI era, UT can create more opportunity, deliver better outcomes, and build a stronger future for communities across Texas and beyond,” the couple said.
UT Dell Medical Center will deliver a “fully integrated, patient-centered model that connects prevention, diagnosis, treatment and discovery through artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing, per the university. This technology can be used to enable early detection, more precise and personalized care, and better health outcomes.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center will also be integrated into the UT Dell Medical Center to deliver cancer care as part of a unified, patient-centered system.
The Dells’ commitment sets in motion UT Austin’s goal to raise $10 billion in 10 years and rank in the top 10 for medical centers nationally within a decade. It also represents one of the largest-ever philanthropic commitments to any American university.
“Today, our University and our state are taking a bold step forward,” said UT Austin President Jim Davis. “Susan and Michael Dell are Longhorns with a vision to change the world, a will to act on that vision, and an unmatched commitment that has made this bold step real.”