The Irsay Institute

What The Irsay Institute does

The Irsay Institute is a nonprofit sociomedical research institute housed within Indiana University Bloomington, founded in 2021 with a $3 million gift from the Irsay Family. It functions as a transdisciplinary hub connecting researchers across IU Bloomington, the IU School of Medicine in Indianapolis, and external collaborators, organized around six research program areas: Stigma & Social Exclusion in Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders; Mental Illness, Suicide, and Addiction; Aging & Social Neuroscience; Sexual & Reproductive Health; Health Equity Economics and Policy; and Sustainable Implementation. Active studies include the Connect to Care in Schools study, the Perinatal Mental Health Initiative, and the Social Networks in Alzheimer's Disease study. The institute is led by Director Bernice Pescosolido (elected to both the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences), Associate Director Brea Perry, and Co-Director Kosali Simon, with a community of over 70 faculty, postdocs, fellows, and advisory board members.

The institute's core technology and data assets center on social network analysis methodologies, implementation science, and large-scale data harmonization. Its flagship proprietary resource is the Suicide Trends and Archival Comparative Knowledgebase (STACK), a harmonized dataset connecting multiple public sources covering 122 years of US suicide data (1900–2021), which has produced landmark PNAS publications. Other assets include the National Stigma Studies series — the most comprehensive ongoing national surveys of mental illness stigma in the United States — and the Person-to-Person (P2P) Health Interview Study. The institute is developing an LLM-based tool to assist mental health professionals and is exploring AI-enabled mental health analytics. Supporting infrastructure includes the Faculty Publications Database, four Communities of Practice, the Irsay Graduate Fellows Program (up to six funded fellowships annually at $13,000+ per semester), and the annual Research Symposium.

The institute operates on a nonprofit funding model combining philanthropic gifts (the Irsay Family endowment), competitive federal research grants (NIH including NIDA, NIDCR, NIA, NCRR; NSF), private foundation grants (Humana Foundation), and university support. It distributes its work through peer-reviewed academic publications (200+ outputs in outlets including PNAS, JAMA, Lancet, and American Journal of Sociology), research symposia, Communities of Practice, training programs, and a partnership with Kicking the Stigma (Indianapolis Colts). The institute does not sell commercial products and does not charge tuition for its fellowship program. Its primary beneficiaries are academic researchers, graduate students, state and national health policy stakeholders, and international research collaborators in countries including Uganda, South Africa, Denmark, Iceland, and Peru.

Name

The Irsay Institute

Legal name

The Irsay Family Research Institute

Website

https://irsay.iu.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Irsay Institute is a nonprofit sociomedical research hub at Indiana University, founded in 2021 with a $3 million gift from the Irsay Family. It connects over 70 faculty, postdocs, and fellows across IU Bloomington and the IU School of Medicine to conduct transdisciplinary research on mental health stigma, suicide prevention, addiction, and health equity.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Research Services

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720)

akta.pro primary industry

Suicide Prevention, Self-Harm Prevention & Threat Assessment Programs (EDAKAMAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Behavioral Health & MTSS/RTI Tiered SEL Supports (EDAKAMAE), Behavioral Health & Substance Use Public Health Programs (BPAIAJAK)

Keywords

• Sociomedical research
• Mental health research
• Suicide prevention studies
• Health equity research
• Stigma research

Headquarters

HQ city

Bloomington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Research Grants and Federal Funding: The institute's researchers secure competitive grants from federal agencies including NIH (NIDA, NIDCR, NIA, NCRR), NSF, and private foundations (Humana Foundation). Funding supports specific research studies and programs, with grants such as $300,000 from the Humana Foundation and $1.2M NIH grants for school-based suicide prevention.
2. Donations and Philanthropy: The institute was founded on a $3 million gift from the Irsay Family. Ongoing philanthropy supports the institute's operations, mental health services research, stigma work, and workforce development.
3. Graduate Fellowship Program: The Irsay Graduate Fellows Program provides funding to advanced graduate students (at least $13,000 per semester per funded fellowship), with up to six funded fellowships anticipated for the 2026-27 academic year, supporting sociomedical research and professional development.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Irsay Institute conducts transdisciplinary sociomedical research at Indiana University, organized across six thematic program areas (Stigma & Social Exclusion; Mental Illness, Suicide & Addiction; Aging & Social Neuroscience; Sexual & Reproductive Health; Health Equity Economics & Policy; Sustainable Implementation). It supports active research studies, maintains the STACK suicide dataset and National Stigma Studies, runs the Irsay Graduate Fellows Program, and operates four Communities of Practice to translate research into policy and practice. The institute also develops an LLM-based tool to assist mental health professionals.

Product overview

The Irsay Institute is a sociomedical research institute at Indiana University (founded 2021) offering a portfolio of interconnected research services, resources, and training programs. Its core offering consists of six thematic research program areas (Stigma & Social Exclusion, Mental Illness Suicide & Addiction, Aging & Social Neuroscience, Sexual & Reproductive Health, Health Equity Economics and Policy, and Sustainable Implementation) that house active research studies including the Connect to Care in Schools Study, Perinatal Mental Health Initiative Study, and Social Networks in Alzheimer's Disease Study. These are supported by Faculty Publications Database, Data Resources (All of Us, P2P Health Interview Study), and four Communities of Practice (C2C Suicide Prevention Toolkit, CoDesign Commons, Mental Health & Stigma, Innovation Think Tank on Suicide). The Irsay Graduate Fellows Program provides funded and unfunded research training fellowships for IU graduate students. The institute also develops an LLM-based AI tool for mental health professional assistance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Research Programs
• Active Research Studies
• Irsay Graduate Fellows Program
• Data Resources
• STACK Suicide Dataset (Suicide Trends and Archival Comparative Knowledgebase)
• National Stigma Studies
• Faculty Publications Database
• Communities of Practice

Quantifiable outcome

• Research estimate: over 372,000 suicide deaths could have been prevented between 1969 and 2021 if lowest observed age-specific rates had been maintained
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP): The largest private funder of suicide research in the US, awarding grants and supporting researchers studying suicide prevention—highly comparable to Irsay's suicide, stigma, and prevention research focus.
• University of Michigan Institute for Social Research: A premier academic social science research institute conducting large-scale longitudinal and survey research on health and society—directly comparable in mission, scale, and methodological approach to Irsay's sociomedical research.
• Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC): A nationally designated suicide prevention resource center that conducts research, training, and dissemination on suicide prevention—directly parallel to the Irsay Institute's suicide research portfolio and C2C Suicide Prevention Toolkit.
• University of Pennsylvania Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics: A university-based institute producing health economics and policy research—closely comparable in mission, structure (university-hosted), and policy-oriented research output to Irsay.
• Stanford Center for Population Health Sciences: A university-based center conducting transdisciplinary population health and social determinants research—closely comparable in mission, university-hosted structure, and sociomedical focus.

Broad incumbents

• RAND Corporation: A large, established policy research organization that conducts health, mental health, and social science research for government clients—an incumbent-scale comparable operating model to Irsay's grant-funded research approach.
• Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: A leading school of public health conducting broad sociomedical, mental health, and health policy research—comparable research areas but at much larger scale and broader scope than the Irsay Institute.

Others

• Indiana University School of Medicine: The parent institution's medical school that Irsay bridges to, conducting large-scale medical and translational research—directly comparable in research areas but at vastly different scale and operating scope.
• National Council for Mental Wellbeing: A membership and advocacy organization advancing mental health policy and practice—related ecosystem actor that translates research into policy, complementing Irsay's research-to-policy work.

Emerging players

• Treatment Advocacy Center: A nonprofit focused on eliminating barriers to mental health treatment through research and policy advocacy—comparable as a smaller, mission-driven organization producing policy-relevant mental health research.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/irsay_iu
• Facebookfacebook.com/IrsayIU
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/irsay-iu

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about The Irsay Institute