May 3, 2011 – Imaging the World announced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Co-Founders of Imaging the World, Kristen DeStigter, M.D., vice chair of radiology at the University of Vermont/Fletcher Allen Health Care and associate professor, radiology, UVM College of Medicine, and Brian Garra, M.D., associate director, division of imaging and applied mathematics/OSEL, U.S. Food and Drug Administration and chief of imaging systems and research in radiology at the Washington, D.C., Veterans Affairs Medical Center, will pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled “Low-Cost Sustainable Solution for Rural Ultrasound.”
Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) funds scientists and researchers worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mold in how persistent global health and development challenges are solved. DeStigter and Garra’s project is one of more than 85 Grand Challenges Explorations Round 6 grants announced today by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“GCE winners are expanding the pipeline of ideas for serious global health and development challenges where creative thinking is most urgently needed. These grants are meant to spur on new discoveries that could ultimately save millions of lives,” said Chris Wilson, director of Global Health Discovery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
To receive funding, DeStigter, Garra and other Grand Challenges Explorations Round 6 winners demonstrated in a two-page online application a bold idea in one of five critical global heath and development topic areas: polio eradication, HIV, sanitation, family health technologies and mobile health. Applications for the current open round, Grand Challenges Explorations Round 7, will be accepted through May 19, 2011.
DeStigter and Garra are developing a low-cost, scalable solution based in technology, education and community outreach to bring ultrasound diagnoses to pregnant women in areas of high maternal/neonatal mortality. By giving advance warning of critical maternal conditions, this model will improve maternal/fetal morbidity and mortality on a grand scale.
Grand Challenges Explorations is a $100 million initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Launched in 2008, Grand Challenge Explorations grants have already been awarded to nearly 500 researchers from more than 40 countries. The grant program is open to anyone from any discipline and from any organization. The initiative uses an agile, accelerated grant-making process with short two-page online applications and no preliminary data are required. Initial grants of $100,000 are awarded two times a year. Successful projects have the opportunity to receive a follow-on grant of up to $1 million.
For more information: www.imagingtheworld.org
July 19, 2024 
