The School of Public Health Finest Hours Fund

These are challenging times for public health. The U.S. withdrawal from the WHO, the dismantling of USAID, the termination of CDC’s global EIS officers, and the drastic reduction of federal investment in public health are not just policy shifts — but existential threats to the health of communities worldwide.

The impact on our school is profound. Federal funding cuts jeopardize our ability to conduct groundbreaking research, train the next generation of public health changemakers, and advance health equity and social justice for all. Some of our faculty are at risk of losing critical research funding. We’ve heard that at the last round of NIH grant reviews, research proposals that contained terms like “health disparities,” “health equity,” and “environmental justice” were not even reviewed. Our students —especially those from underrepresented backgrounds — face uncertainty as diversity fellowships are slashed and paid internships disappear.

But we will not stand idly by. We must uphold our core values, protect our most vulnerable faculty and students, and sustain the critical research that improves population health, especially for the most vulnerable.

With your support, we can continue the mission of solving big problems for public health. Together, we can ensure that promising students do not see their futures cut short and that vital research in health equity and environmental justice does not fade into silence.