Alumnus Glen de Vries Gives $10M to Endow Carnegie Mellon Deanship, Support Strategic Initiatives in the Sciences

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Dec 12, 2017, 09:26 ET

PITTSBURGH, Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Glen de Vries, co-founder and president of Medidata, has donated $10 million to endow the chair of the dean of CMU's Mellon College of Science (MCS).

The Glen de Vries Dean's Chair will first be awarded to MCS Dean Rebecca W. Doerge.

"Since graduating from MCS, Glen has built an extraordinary career at the intersection of science, business and medicine, and his work has revolutionized how we conduct medical research. His decision to give back to CMU at this time inspires all of us," said Interim President Farnam Jahanian.

The transformational gift by de Vries, a 1994 graduate of the MCS who helped create the leading cloud platform for life sciences research, will allow Doerge and her successors to invest in fundamental sciences, interdisciplinary initiatives, infrastructure, faculty and students at MCS — which includes the biological sciences, chemistry, mathematical sciences and physics departments.

"CMU had a profound effect on me, personally and professionally," de Vries said. "It is an incredible privilege to support the university, and to help perpetuate the dynamic learning environment in and around MCS."

"Glen's historic gift is a resounding endorsement of the Mellon College of Science's importance to both Carnegie Mellon and the broader research community, and will allow us to take to the next level our commitment to an interdisciplinary, hands-on culture that molds students into supremely educated, well-rounded 21^st century scientists and fosters innovative research," said Doerge.

A New York native, de Vries received his undergraduate degree in molecular biology and genetics from CMU. He worked as a research scientist at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and studied computer science at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematics before starting Medidata in 1999.

Medidata is a life sciences technology provider that greatly enhances the way clinical research is designed, conducted and analyzed. Its integrated cloud-based platform is used by more than 950 organizations, and powers clinical trials for 18 of the world's top 25 global pharmaceutical companies and 18 of the top 25 medical device developers. In less than 20 years, it has grown from just two employees to about 2,000 employees in 14 locations and more than half a billion dollars in revenue annually. Medidata's software has supported more than 13,000 studies involving nearly four million patients.

SOURCE Carnegie Mellon University