Organization:Wallace H. Coulter Foundation
Contents
Purpose
The Wallace H. Coulter Foundation strives to carry out the lifelong goals of Mr. Wallace Coulter to improve healthcare in a way that remains available and affordable to everyone. The Foundation makes grants to universities and college to help them excel in the fields of biomedical research and engineering and to accelerate the pace of translational research.
Translational Research Programs
The Coulter Foundation defines translational reasearch as research that exhibits some or all of the following qualities:
- It is driven primarily by considerations of use and practical application of the research results, as opposed to basic research, which is driven primarily by a quest for knowledge.
- It envisions the development of a practical solution that addresses a particular clinical problem or unmet clinical need.
- The research results generally include protectable intellectual property.
- It involves clinical application as a goal, and therefore requires a transition or translation of the research from a research laboratory to the clinic – from bench to bedside.
- It often envisions a particular product as the endpoint of development.
- It involves commercialization as a goal and therefore requires a transfer of the technology from the academic institution to a commercial entity for final product development, manufacturing, marketing and sales.
University Impact
Grants
Some institutions, such as Florida International University and Georgia Institute of Technology, which were near and dear to Mr. Coulter's heart have received large grants to support their respective biomedical engineering departments. These grants were made possible by the substantial wealth Mr. Coulter amassed during his life, which he used to establish the Walter H. Coulter Foundation before his death.
Coulter Translational Partnership (TP) Award
Others universities have become partners with the Foundation through a program known as the Coulter Translational Partnership (TP) Award in Biomedical Engineering. The list of universities selected to receive this award back in 2005 includes Boston University, Case Western Reserve University, University of Michigan, and Stanford University. This founding group became known as TP1.
TP2 was established based on the success of TP1 and includes Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Southern California, among others. The TP Award provides the biomedical engineering departments at these universities with $580,000 each year for five years. The TP Awards have funded many successful projects such as PharmaCheck, "an inexpensive, reliable, and robust drug screening technology" that can be used in developing countries to screen for countereit medicines. As of July of 2006, the Foundation has funded nearly 100 translational research projects through its translational research grant programs.
The Coulter Foundation & Your University
As of right now, it appears there is no TP3 in the works at the Coulter Foundation. That being said, there are a number of universities that are currently receiving funding from the Foundation and striving to accelerate the pace of translational research in the field of biomedical engineering.
Contact Information
790 NW 107th Avenue, Suite 215
Miami, Florida 33172-3158
Phone (305) 559-2991
Fax (305) 559-5490
