The University of Washington has received its largest grant ever - $540 million from the Gates Foundation.gettyThe Gates Foundation has given the University of Washington the largest grant in its history, a 10-year award worth $540 million for the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent research unit at UW.Part of the UW School of Medicine, IHME will use the record grant to expand its Global Burden of Disease study, the world’s largest systematic effort to measure deaths, illness, disability, injuries, and health risks. The study currently provides health estimates for approximately 925 locations, but with the grant, that number is expected to grow to nearly 5,000 in the future. The grant will support IHME’s health forecasting and future-scenarios work. IHME produces health forecasts through 2100 for every country, helping leaders anticipate population changes, disease trends, health risks, and the policy choices they face. IHME plans to connect those forecasts more closely to the latest disease burden findings, helping decision-makers assess and develop disease-prevention efforts. The new funding will also expand IHME’s tracking of health financing, which currently provides a comprehensive accounting of health expenditures across 204 countries. Those data help governments and funders assess whether resources are reaching the populations, diseases, and places that have the greatest needs.“Reliable and independent evidence can mean the difference between reacting to a health crisis after it has taken hold and acting early enough to change its course,” said Dr. Christopher J.L. Murray, IHME director and professor of health metrics sciences, in a news release. “This investment will allow us to provide high-quality evidence at a much more local level and help leaders understand not only where health is improving or worsening, but which decisions can make the greatest difference for people.”MORE FOR YOUThe IHME was established in 2007 with the help of funding from the Gates Foundation. In the years since then, it has grown into one of the world’s leading centers for health metrics. “For nearly two decades, IHME has been one of the foundation’s most important global partners, helping us, governments, researchers, and global health partners around the world understand where health is improving, where progress is stalling, and where action is needed most," said Mark Suzman, Chief Executive Officer of the Gates Foundation. "Our long-term commitment recognizes the value of this work to strengthen a shared evidence base that will continue to inform decisions to improve—and save—millions of lives.”The Gates Foundation (formerly the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) was founded in 2000. Over its first 25 years, the foundation has invested more than $102.3 billion in grants for global health and development, U.S. education, and economic mobility. Bill Gates has said that in 2025 “he had made two decisions that define the foundation’s future: I’ll donate virtually all of my remaining wealth—about $200 billion—over the next two decades, and the foundation will close its doors at the end of 2045.” The UW gift reflects Gates’ plans for the foundation to focus on three goals in its remaining time:No mom, child, or baby dies of a preventable cause;The next generation grows up in a world without deadly infectious diseases; andHundreds of millions of people break free from poverty, putting more countries on the path to prosperity. “The Gates Foundation has been a steadfast partner of the University of Washington for decades, and we are grateful for its generous support. The UW is committed to improving the health of people in Washington and around the world, and this investment will expand IHME’s already significant impact, which will mean longer, healthier lives for countless people,” said UW President Robert J. Jones.