In his annual speech marking the beginning of the new academic year, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, spoke about the importance of partnerships for the success of the University, highlighting the establishment of the innovative and multi-faceted Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences.
Professor Borysiewicz referred to local partnerships with the Cambridge colleges, the City of Cambridge and surrounding region, other universities, industry and philanthropists. The Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences is the culmination of partnerships in all these areas, building in particular on the generosity and foresight of two philanthropic donors.
“[P]hilanthropic partnerships are transformative.
Put simply, we can achieve far more with the support, passion and vision of our donors than we can on our own. That is not simply a question of financial arithmetic – it is about the wonderful changes that can occur when people of conviction, ability and means come together around shared objectives. It is about resolving the most complex global problems, generating a step-change in scale and accelerating outcomes beyond those made possible with normal funding streams.
At its most powerful, this process sees our supporters play a leading role in rethinking the world with us.
One such philanthropic partnership has enabled the creation of the Cambridge Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences, drawing together two donors, several departments across two University schools, two Colleges and the University of Hong Kong to create an innovative and multifaceted partnership.
The aim of the new Centre is to complement the world-class biomedical research carried out by the University and help answer questions about the law reform we need to ensure the fair and effective delivery of modern medicine. For example, are we given the right sorts of choices about our births, deaths, medical treatments and medical records? Who owns or has rights in new genetic discoveries? How can we translate these discoveries into affordable new treatments in the quickest, safest and most ethical way?"