The University of Connecticut has announced a $7 million gift from the Neag Foundation in support of high-risk, high-reward research at its School of Medicine.

The gift will establish the Carole and Ray Neag Innovation Professorship, which will support faculty specializing in transformational research, and the Carole and Ray Neag Innovative Research Awards, which will fund outside-the-box, potentially groundbreaking research that would not be supported by traditional sources of research funding. Those unconventional ideas could lead to new therapies and treatments for cardiovascular disease, cancer, viral infections, and other diseases and help prepare for the possibility of future pandemics. Funding for such research projects also can unlock future funding, as it enables scientists to obtain the initial data that are required when applying to traditional funding sources.

The Neags are UConn's largest benefactors, and the Neag School of Education and the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center are named in honor of Carole Neag and her late husband, Ray ('56), in recognition of their lifetime giving.

"The Carole and Ray Neag Innovative Research Awards will give scientists the ability to test unconventional ideas without the preliminary data typically required for funding by some of the federal sources," said School of Medicine dean Bruce Liang. "The rewards for this type of research can be unforeseen and unexpected. The research is aimed at being innovative and high-risk but with the potential for high reward and impact greater than the more traditional investigation."

(Photo credit: University of Connecticut)