Indian doc couple makes history with hefty donation

CHICAGO: Two prominent Indian community activists and philanthropists from Florida, Dr Kiran Patel and Dr Pallavi Patel, did it again – announcing a hefty donation of $12 million to the University of South Florida (USF) last month.
The donation is for expanding the Patel School of Global Sustainability turning it into the College of Global Sustainability that would focus more intensively on research and community involvement for protecting global environment with judicious use of available natural resources.
The school founded in 2010 seeks to create awareness across the world that whatever resources Nature has bestowed on us planet are limited and hence, need to be used efficiently and optimally so that their indiscriminate and wanton use does not create environmental as well as economic problems for the generations to come . The doctors’ total contribution to USF with the recent donation comes to almost $26 million and that is expected to give a big push to the decade-long effort at USF for a sustainable global development and healthcare.
The Patels made the announcement on October 2 at a meeting with USF president Judy Genshaft, Patel school director Kala Vairavamoorthy and students in the program. With the additional findings, the College will expand graduate enrollment and faculty, besides pepping up more research, the USF sources said. Previous donations had led to the construction of the Patel Center for Global Solutions and the Patel School of Global Sustainability, according to the USF sources.
In a talk to this paper, Dr Kiran Patel said that the burgeoning global population and indiscriminate use of natural resources would prove ruinous to the future generations unless conscious efforts are made to focus on these problems and seek solutions.
“Not only do we need to create awareness about the huge adverse impact on environment but also to find ways and means for more efficient and optimum ways of using our limited resources,” he said. The re-christened College of Global Sustainability aims exactly at doing this, he added.
“The Earth is God’s gift to humanity and we believe that the current generation needs to understand this while meeting its present needs,” said Dr Pallavi Patel. “We should not undermine our environment as the world’s rapidly depleting resources and growing population require us to become more efficient and think of new ways to develop sustainable and renewable sources of clean water, energy, food and transportation,” she added
According to Judy Genshaft, the USF President, the new college will give the new generation the tools it needs to build a healthier and more sustainable future for our planet and its people. The school currently offers training to 50 students. As a college, the enrollment could reach up to 120 students. A plan is afoot to expand the curriculum to include a doctoral program, Patel said.
USF spokeswoman Vickie Chachere said that with this donation, faculty also will be able to earn tenure, and the school will take on larger projects. The changes are pending based on the review of school officials. Besides class work, students must finish projects overseas to complete the graduate program. Past projects were conducted in several countries, including Ecuador, Ghana and Singapore, Chachere added.
The Patel School of Global Sustainability, which Pallavi Patel calls a “do tank, not a think tank,” has conferred 23 master’s degrees in global sustainability. Upon university approval, the new Patel college – which could begin accepting students as early as January 2013 –
will bring the current work of the Patel School of Global Sustainability to a new level, allowing it to focus on improved urban systems, water and transportation.
The school has worked with several organizations, including the United Nations and has become the first North American university to obtain a research and strategy partnership with the UN-Habitat Partner University Initiative. Together, USF and UN-Habitat will establish the first United Nations Urban Futures Research Hub in the U.S., promoting education and professional development in emerging cities, the USF sources said.
Right here in Tampa, the current Patel School has created a multiyear learning and research partnership with water management in the Netherlands called Resilient Tampa Bay. An effort to prepare the region for potential urban flooding challenges brought by hurricanes and rising sea levels, the program is guiding future development in an attempt to protect areas vulnerable to severe flooding.
Through a series of donations and matching state funds, the Patels have focused their endowments and attention on sustainable global development and healthcare through supporting the Dr. Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions Endowment Fund, USF Health, the Dr. Kiran Patel Center for Global Solutions Operating Fund and the Patel Center for Global Solutions.
According to Genshaft, the Patels leadership, influence and donations have helped USF become one of the top 50 research universities in the nation. The Patels have made their fortune from founding a managed health care company and medical software companies.
Dr Kiran Patel is actively involved with a number of community organizations including the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin. He has facilitated setting up a medical clinic in Zambia which even now is regarded one of the best places in the country for primary healthcare. Dr Kiran and Dr Pallavi Patel have established school and college in Gujarat, India and have developed centers for empowering women.

Ramesh Soparawala
India Post News Service