Thomas M. Ryan

How often is a gift called “transformational?” That’s a big claim.

The word was used by University of Rhode Island President David M. Dooley, referring in 2013 to a $15 million gift from former CVS Caremark Corp. President and CEO Thomas M. Ryan and his wife, Cathy, to create a neuroscience research institute at the state university.

From the perspectives of science, health and economic development, the George and Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience could turn out to be transformational, indeed.

The institute is named for the parents of Ryan, a URI alumnus. When the gift was announced, Ryan said his father was among the 5.2 million Americans suffering the effects of Alzheimer’s disease.

- Advertisement -

The institute is intended to drive research in neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and strokes. A major theme of the institute’s creation is that its scientists will work cooperatively with their counterparts in Rhode Island.

In late 2015, a joint working agreement was reached by the Ryan Institute along with research groups representing Lifespan, Brown University, the VA Medical Center and Care New England.

Politicians joined the excitement, expressing hopes it help drive the state’s effort to become a center of life sciences research and development.

Developers are now working with the state to plan a life sciences research space on former Interstate 195 land in Providence. Dooley clearly sees the land-grant university as having a role in economic development and has talked about getting URI and the Ryan Institute a place in that project. •

No posts to display