$25 million donation to UChicago will create center for global health and social development

The University of Chicago will expand its research on global health and social development through a $25 million donation from the Kiphart Family Foundation.

The gift will be used to create the Susan and Richard Kiphart Center for Global Health and Social Development, located within UChicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. It will be a space to work on educational initiatives to address issues of inequity in West Africa and in low socioeconomic communities around the world.

In partnering with UChicago’s Biological Sciences Division and various communities, the Kiphart Center will work to alleviate disease, improve infrastructure and promote community health and well-being through developing educational and economic opportunities.

“Confronting health inequalities is an urgent challenge for communities, here in Chicago and around the world,” said UChicago President Robert J. Zimmer in the college’s news release. “We recognize that health issues affecting communities worldwide are complex and require a multidisciplinary approach. This generous gift ... will further integrate the University’s multidisciplinary resources and deepen and expand community collaborations to make a positive impact.”

Susan and the late Richard Kiphart were instrumental in establishing UChicago’s Center for Global Health in 2013, which focuses on public health initiatives. The latest gift will help to support research, education and training for university students and clinical trainees, as well as work by interdisciplinary teams of faculty and students collaborating with local partners to address global social and health challenges.

Building upon the Crown Family School’s history of research, the Kiphart Center will build sustainable solutions for health equity through addressing the specific social, economic and environmental factors present within an area that influence the well-being of community members.

“The Kiphart Center is unique in that it brings together experts in global health and situates [them] in a school focused on the many factors ... related to health, with the vision to achieve transformative breakthroughs and improvements in the well-being of children, families and communities around the globe,” Deborah Gorman-Smith, dean of the Crown Family School, said in the news release.