MSM Receives $2 Million Gift to Establish David Satcher Global Health Equity Institute
Donation from the Croel Family Foundation announced at inaugural Dr. David Satcher Global Health Equity Summit.
ATLANTA, GA – SEPTEMBER 14, 2023 – Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) received a $2 million donation from Jon and Donna Croel and the Croel Family Foundation to establish the David Satcher Global Health Equity Institute at MSM. Their gift will fund the Croel Family Foundation Endowed Directorship in honor of Dr. Barney Graham, the founder and inaugural Director of the Institute.
The Institute is named in honor of Dr. David Satcher, the only person to serve as both head of the Centers for Disease Control and U.S. Surgeon General. Dr. Satcher also served as the medical school’s president from 2004 to 2006, and he is the founding director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at MSM. He continues to be a leading voice and expert on public health policy, population science, and health equity.
The donation was announced this week at the inaugural Dr. David Satcher Global Health Equity Summit, hosted by MSM and KPMG, which convened global health equity leaders across health care, academia, and technology to explore the intersection of policy, innovation, and scientific discovery in advancing global health equity and discuss efforts to eradicate health disparities.
“Morehouse School of Medicine is extremely grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Croel for their generous gift as we launch the Global Health Equity Institute, which embodies the next phase of MSM's commitment to global health equity and health justice,” said MSM President and CEO Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD, FACOG. “With this donation, the Croels are not only financially supporting the Institute's founding but also actively inspiring others to do so. We look forward to partnering with them in our shared mission to eradicate health inequities.”
The Croels are passionate advocates for global health access and equity. Jon leads with a deep sense of service, cultivated from the values instilled in him as a Morehouse College alumnus (Class of ‘98). Donna Croel is a strategic philanthropist, raising money for cancer research as a founding member of VeloSano and as a longstanding, past participant in the Pan-Mass Challenge. The Croel Family Foundation seamlessly blends Jon and Donna’s priorities for service and science and aims to create catalytic and systemic change.
“By endowing the Directorship of the Global Health Equity Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine, we're taking a deliberate step toward a future where everyone, regardless of where they come from, has access to quality healthcare,” said Jon Croel, President of the Croel Family Foundation. “Dr. Graham's vision and expertise not only paved the way for the development of the COVID-19 vaccine but also have been transformative in addressing global health inequity.”
Morehouse School of Medicine is uniquely positioned to advance global health equity. MSM sees its students as the primary asset, acknowledging that equity will depend on diverse decision-makers, innovators, discovery scientists, and other stakeholders. MSM is dedicated to establishing and furthering partnerships that build knowledge, facilities, scientific collaborations, health and expertise in low-resource settings. Morehouse School of Medicine also focuses on community-specific approaches to improving health and working toward self-sufficiency, not dependence on high-income country solutions.
Morehouse School of Medicine Professor and Senior Advisor for Global Health Equity Barney Graham, MD, PhD, will serve as director of the MSM Global Health Equity Institute. A world-renowned clinical trials physician, immunologist, and virologist, Dr. Graham joined the MSM faculty in May 2022 after over 20 years as an investigator at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Graham's research has been key to developing vaccines and monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza, HIV, and other emerging viruses.
“I am very grateful for the generous gift provided by the Croel Family Foundation,” said Barney Graham, MD, PhD, Senior Advisor for Global Health Equity, Director of the Global Health Equity Institute, and Professor of Medicine and Microbiology, Biochemistry & Immunology. “It will launch the Institute’s efforts to improve the health of disadvantaged people everywhere.”
The Global Health Equity Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine will have a multipronged mission, aiming to:
- Diversify the scientific and public health workforce, increasing diverse leadership in science and public health to improve health equity;
- Increase student participation in global health, empowering students with knowledge and opportunity to expand their imagination and vision for science and public health;
- Facilitate scientific advances in low-resource settings, expanding research capacity to reduce health disparities and foster innovative solutions for regional problems before they become global; and
- Develop Office of Global Policy and Advocacy, changing the narrative and influencing legislation that will remove barriers to achieving health equity.
For more information about Morehouse School of Medicine, please visit MSM.edu.
About Morehouse School of Medicine
Founded in 1975, Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) is among the nation’s leading educators of primary care physicians, biomedical scientists, and public health professionals. An independent and private historically-Black medical school, MSM was recognized by the Annals of Internal Medicine as the nation’s number one medical school in fulfilling a social mission — the creation and advancement of health equity. MSM faculty and alumni are noted for excellence in teaching, research, and public policy, as well as exceptional patient care. MSM is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award doctoral and master’s degrees. To learn more about programs and donate today, please visit MSM.edu or call 404-752-1500.
Contact
Jamille Bradfield
Morehouse School of Medicine
jbradfield@msm.edu