To help the Indiana University School of Medicine tap the powerful combination of science and medicine, Lilly Endowment Inc. has given the school $60 million, university and Endowment officials announced Tuesday.

The funds will be used to implement the Indiana Physician Scientist Initiative. The Initiative will promote the development of important scientific discoveries in the laboratory, determine how those discoveries could improve human health, then help turn them into new products and treatments that benefit patients and produce new businesses and jobs – a process known as translational research.

The $60 million grant from the endowment is viewed as a strategic addition to the foundation’s previous investments in Indiana University research programs, including the Indiana Genomics Initiative (INGEN), which was funded by $155 million in grants from the Endowment in 2000 and 2003. In addition to expanding biomedical research at IU, the INGEN funds were a catalyst for the development of life sciences economic investments more broadly in Indiana. Those included the creation of BioCrossroads, which provides funding and support to life sciences businesses and markets the state’s life sciences economy.

IU President Michael A. McRobbie said this is the latest in a series of Lilly Endowment grants that have enabled the university to move into the very top ranks of institutions performing major research in the areas of life sciences and information technology.