Harvard University receives largest ever donation from Hong Kong foundation
Morningside Foundation hands over US$350m to American university's school of public health
A foundation set up by Hang Lung Group chief Ronnie Chan Chichung and his family has made the biggest donation in Harvard University's 378-year history, handing over US$350 million to its school of public health.
The school will be renamed the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health after the late tycoon Chan Tseng-hsi, founder of Hang Lung. It becomes only the second Harvard faculty to carry the name of a person, after the John F. Kennedy School of Government
The donation is from the Morningside Foundation - set up by Chan's sons Ronnie Chan and Gerald Chan Lok-chung, who earned his master's and doctorate degrees at the school of public health.
Harvard president Professor Drew Faust said: "This extraordinary gift from the Chan family will enable Harvard's school of public health to tackle intractable health problems and to translate rigorous research into action and policy worldwide."
The donation will go towards fighting four global health threats: pandemics old and new, from malaria and Ebola to obesity and cancer; tackling harmful physical and social environments - covering everything from pollution to gun violence; poverty and humanitarian crises; and failing health systems worldwide, that leave many people without access to health care.