Arizona State University has announced a gift of $50 million from Charlene and J. Orin Edson in support of dementia research and to enhance education and training for nurses and caregivers.

The gift will be split evenly between ASU's College of Nursing and Health Innovation, which will be renamed after the Edsons, and the Biodesign Institute, which will create the Charlene and J. Orin Edson Initiative for Dementia Care and Solutions.

According to the university, the gift will support the institute's two-pronged research approach to dementia: identify the causes and work toward a cure, and develop tools for managing the disease. It also will help the university recruit a program director as well as postdoctoral research fellows, supply seed funding for new experimental projects, and establish an annual meeting aimed at bringing international experts in the field to ASU. In addition, Biodesign and Edson College will work to create a program encouraging transdisciplinary inquiry that takes research findings from the bench to the bedside.

"We believe in ASU's interdisciplinary, collaborative approach to finding solutions," the Edson family said in a statement. "We look forward to new discoveries and solutions to better the quality of life for people affected by brain disease and the heartache of those that love them."

(Photo credit: Nick Merrick)