Washington University in St. Louis has been given a record $200 million commitment for its school of public health.GettyThe Washington University (WashU) School of Public Health in St. Louis, Missouri has received a record $200 million commitment from The Bursky Family Foundation, established by Andrew M. Bursky, chair of the WashU Board of Trustees, and his wife Jane M. Bursky. The gift is the largest commitment in WashU history, and in recognition of it, the university will rename the school the Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky School of Public Health.“This gift positions WashU to help define what public health can be in the years ahead,” said WashU Chancellor Andrew D. Martin, in the news release . “By investing in the people, ideas and partnerships that drive discovery and impact, we are building a foundation for lasting progress — improving health for communities in St. Louis and around the world.” Launched in January 2025, the WashU School of Public Health will use the funding to support faculty hiring, student scholarships and new research initiatives, “while advancing a broader effort to rethink how public health is taught, studied and applied,” according to the announcement. The school emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach, made possible by contributions from WashU Medicine, the WashU Brown School, along with institutional expertise in business and engineering. Faculty teams are working in areas such as dissemination and implementation science, global health, policy, planetary health and health communication. The university pointed to its location in a Midwest “red state” as an advantage because it “requires the school to engage across differences, test ideas against competing viewpoints and develop solutions that resonate beyond any single political or geographic context.” MORE FOR YOUAccording to inaugural dean Dr. Sandro Galea, the school practices “Purple Public Health” — the notion that public health should be neither red nor blue “but must engage people across the political spectrum to build trust and ensure solutions are understood and supported.” The school’s Purple Public Health Project brings together different perspectives and develops new ways to communicate about health in the currently politically fraught environment. The Bursky’s gift will help the school build a new infrastructure to translate public health evidence into action. That infrastructure will include an institute where expert teams will focus on data, evaluation, and communication to speed up the implementation of public health solutions.“This is exactly the moment to build one of the leading schools of public health in the country, and that is what this gift will allow us to do here at WashU,” said Galea, in the release. “When the limits of our current systems are most visible, we have the greatest opportunity to build something stronger — a public health that is more responsive, more trusted and more compassionate.”“This extraordinary University has literally shaped our lives since the first moment we stepped on campus, and we remain committed to helping others feel that same impact. This new School of Public Health will do amazing, tangible good for so many people, and we’re thrilled to play our part in making that a reality,” added Jane Bursky.About Andrew and Jane BurskyAndrew M. Bursky and Jane M. Bursky met while they were undergraduates at Washington University. Jane earned a bachelor’s degree in French and education from WashU, and Andrew Bursky earned his bachelor’s degree in economics along with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from the university. He has served as chair of the university’s Board of Trustees since 2022. After earning his MBA from Harvard University in 1980, Andrew co-founded Interlaken Capital, Inc., a private equity firm. After that, he served as co-managing director of Pegasus Capital Advisors, L.P. In 2002, he co-founded Atlas Holdings LLC, a Connecticut-based industrial holding company. “Washington University is the unquestioned academic leader in our shared challenge to study and deliver the very finest healthcare possible. It is here that we focus squarely on both cutting-edge research that will change the world tomorrow and delivering outcomes that improve people’s lives today. Our new School of Public Health is the next step in that transcendent mission,” said Andrew Bursky. “Jane and I are proud and honored to invest in and support this school, which we believe will serve as the model institution of its kind — at a moment in our country’s public health journey that calls for nothing less than our very best.”In 2016, the couple established the Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky Center for Human Immunology & Immunotherapy at WashU Medicine to advance research on how the immune system fights disease. In addition, they have provided major support for several scholarships at WashU, including the Spirit of Washington University Scholarship, the James E. McLeod Scholarship and the Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky Danforth Scholarship .