BALTIMORE _ The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has received a $300 million gift from businessman and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg _ coinciding with the institution's 100th anniversary_ to be used to launch an initiative it says will transform the way the country approaches public health issues.
It is the largest gift ever for the school and the first to focus primarily on domestic health issues. The gift brings Bloomberg's giving to Johns Hopkins institutions to $1.5 billion.
The new effort with the funds from Bloomberg will be called the Bloomberg American Health Initiative. The efforts will focus on five areas of public health including drug addiction, obesity, gun violence, adolescent health and environmental threats.
"By spreading smart public health strategies that save lives and bringing people together to try new approaches, we can make the same strides in the 21st century against health threats like air pollution, gun violence and obesity that we did in the 20th century against polio and other infectious diseases," Bloomberg said in a statement on the website of the new initiative. "There's no institution better equipped to lead the charge than Johns Hopkins, and it's an honor to be able to help launch the school's next 100 years with this gift."
Specifically, the money will pay for new faculty and fellow positions, research and scholarships, including:
_A $100 million endowment will fund 50 public health fellows annually who will study for masters of public health degrees and return to their communities to work.
_A $125 million endowment will pay for 25 faculty positions and research in the focus areas.
_A $75 million grant will establish scholarships for those entering the university's new doctor of public health program and support a biennial public health summit that will bring fellows, faculty and partner organizations together to share findings and proposals.
A large part of the initiative will include partnering with organizations around the country to develop long-term partnerships that will help influence lasting change. While much of the work will be in Baltimore, the initiative will span the country.
"We will not be able to work in all the cities in the U.S. and all the states," said Dr. Michael J. Klag, dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health. "What we hope to do is pick partners, be very effective and develop models where other cities and other states can do the same things. And by doing that have others imitate us."
Bloomberg, a Hopkins graduate, served as chairman of the university's board of trustees from 1996 to 2000 and previously chaired the Johns Hopkins Initiative fundraising campaign. In recognition of his contributions, the school of public health was renamed for Bloomberg in 2001 and the children's center that opened in 2012 was named for him.
"Michael Bloomberg's commitment to this transformational initiative is testament to his vision that, as our nation's public health challenges have evolved, so too must our model of public health," said Ronald J. Daniels, president of the Johns Hopkins University, in a statement. "The Bloomberg American Health Initiative builds on Michael's visionary legacy at Johns Hopkins and sets the bar ever higher in the next 100 years to transform our national response to modern public health challenges and bend the trajectory of the lives of individuals and communities across the United States."
