A $12.5 million gift from the Charina Endowment Fund and Richard L. (MBA ’59) and Ronay Menschel—longtime supporters of the School and honorary co-chairs of the Campaign for Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health—established the Transforming Public Health Education Initiative. The gift has enabled the School to develop innovative teaching methods, train faculty, harness new educational technologies, and highlight fieldwork and experience-based learning. This generosity has made possible more case-based and field-based “real-world” learning; accelerated the move toward “flipped classrooms,” in which lectures are delivered online, freeing class time for discussion; and helped the School update its master’s degree program for health professionals and create a new doctor of public health degree. These innovations are part of an overall effort to better prepare 21st-century students to achieve maximum impact in their careers.
“We support Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health with our philanthropy because we believe in the importance of public health and the opportunity to expand the knowledge and skill sets of future public health leaders through the use of technology and case studies,” says Ronay Menschel. Adds Richard Menschel, “Improving learning leads to better-prepared students who can more successfully address the major public health issues facing the world today.” The Menschels are supporting these future leaders through the Horace W. Goldsmith Fellowships, which they established in 2007.