The Degen Foundation in Fort Smith has awarded a $193,553 grant to the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education in Fort Smith that will be used to purchase equipment for its Sterilization Core Research Facility in the new ACHE Research Institute Health and Wellness Center.
ACHE announced the purchase of the former Golden Living building in September and will move its biological medical research laboratory there this year. The facility will also house the wellness center.
ACHE said the new research space, which is in the initial design phase, will be 66,000 SF and the largest medical research facility of any osteopathic medical school in the country.
“The steadfast support of The Degen Foundation has allowed ACHE to create an institution that is a step ahead of others,” ACHE CEO Kyle Parker said in a news release. “Their gifts have helped to provide critically important equipment which have aided our research faculty and students in the development of life-changing research. We greatly appreciate their support.”
Tom Webb, the foundation’s executive director added, “The Degen Foundation considers the opportunity to work with ACHE in the area of research profoundly important. The positive knowledge and treatment outcomes that will originate as a result of the research created from this grant are exactly what our mission directs that we do.”