$10 million anonymous gift to Public Health School supports scholarships, leadership training

A $10 million gift to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health from an anonymous donor was announced today to support financial aid for students in the School’s Nutrition and Occupational Health Sciences programs, and to provide significant program support for the School’s Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) Program.

The anonymous donor, who has now made gifts to the School totaling more than $17 million, says the purpose of the new gift is to inspire the spirit of Prajna, a Sanskrit word that conveys ultimate wisdom – wisdom that cannot be reached by developing intellect alone, but entails insight from experience and understanding through the engagement with all that surrounds us.

The donor hopes the gift will further inspire the School’s community to integrate discovery research and practice to compassionately advance the welfare of humanity.

To achieve that goal, $7.5 million of the gift is designated to fund the Doctor of Public Health program, which the School’s new Dean Michelle A. Williams called “one of the School’s signature endeavors to provide vital leadership and management training, as well as public health expertise to extraordinary students.”

According to Dean Williams, “The Dr.P.H. program draws a small group of extremely accomplished students each year who will graduate ready to have an immediate and sizeable impact on public health globally. Long-term, we anticipate our Dr.P.H. students will become the next generation of health ministers, executive directors of nongovernmental organizations, and leaders of major hospitals and healthcare organizations around the globe.”