Established in 2008, EPAR was the first University of Washington (UW) partnership to provide research and analysis support to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and has since grown to work with the broader international development community. EPAR's innovative student-faculty team model has been replicated by other UW programs and schools, including the Strategic Analysis Research and Training Program (START) at the UW's Department of Global Health, the Foster Business Research Group (FBRG) at the UW's Foster School of Business, and the Digital Financial Services Research Group (DFSRG) at the UW's School of Computer Science and Engineering.
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty.