This goal will be dramatically advanced by the naming of Sherry Farrugia as program director for the Georgia Tech/Children’s partnership. In this new, jointly funded management role, Farrugia will help build even closer collaboration between Children’s and Georgia Tech in areas of mutual research interest.

In her new role, she will serve as a member of the Georgia Tech/Children’s Executive Council, facilitate the annual planning and resource allocation process, provide administrative oversight of the seed grant program approved in the annual plan, match Georgia Tech experts with Children’s clinicians, coordinate large proposal development and participate in fundraising activities.

In June 2012, Georgia Tech and Children’s announced a $20 million joint investment, strengthening their research commitment to developing technological solutions for improving children’s health. The expanded collaboration combined the proficiencies of both organizations with a common vision – to become the global leader in pediatric technologies.

Farrugia most recently served as a Georgia Tech strategic partners officer focused on health information technology initiatives. In that role, she worked closely with industry leaders to develop highly effective and mutually beneficial partnerships between companies and Georgia Tech. Prior to working at Georgia Tech, she held high-level corporate positions in the health field, and founded a healthcare information technology company that was sold to one of the nation’s oldest and largest healthcare services organizations.