The Odyssey Group Foundation established a relationship with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2019, issuing a grant in the amount of $300,000 in support of Mount Sinai’s Artificial Pancreas Research Program. The program, led by Dr. Carol Levy, is a pioneering clinical research program studying the efficacy of artificial pancreas (AP) systems to improve blood glucose control in people with type 1 diabetes.
In 2020, Fairfax Financial Holdings announced it had earmarked $1 million to be donated within the U.S. in response to COVID-19. This amount was allocated to the various Fairfax companies for distribution. Odyssey Group’s allocation of $200,000 was directed to the Dr. Florian Krammer COVID-19 Research Fund at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
Dr. Krammer’s study, “Plasma: Harnessing the Power of Antibodies,” focuses on the antibodies within individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 to treat the virus in new patients. The nation’s first convalescent plasma program of its kind, the tests developed allow them to detect whether someone has enough antibodies to warrant extraction for therapeutic use. This is in addition to helping determine how widespread immunity is within the general population.
Additional information about the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is available at https://icahn.mssm.edu.