Open Philanthropy Project Awards $16 Million to Center for Health Security

The Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has been awarded a three-year, $16 million grant from the Open Philanthropy Project to support the Center’s work on strengthening health security and public health preparedness and on preventing and preparing for the most serious global biological risks.

The grant will focus on strengthening the understanding of and response to serious biological risks; assessing how new technologies could reduce or deepen those risks; improving biosafety norms and approaches internationally; and increasing the awareness of policymakers in the United States and internationally about the most important biosecurity and pandemic challenges.

“It is gratifying to see a philanthropic organization committing such substantial new resources to issues we care so deeply about – research and advocacy on biosecurity and global biological risk,” says Tom Inglesby, MD, director of the Center. “This grant will have a transformative impact on our work and our ability to make a difference.”

The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security’s mission is to protect people’s health from the consequences of epidemics and disasters and ensure that communities are resilient to major challenges. The Center studies the policies, organizations, systems and tools needed to prevent and respond to epidemics and public health crises.

The Open Philanthropy Project identifies outstanding giving opportunities, awards grants, tracks the results, and publishes the findings. Its mission is to give effectively and share findings openly so that others may build on them. One of the Project’s focus areas is global catastrophic risks including biosecurity and pandemic preparedness.

“We are very excited to support the Center for Health Security’s work to improve biosecurity and pandemic preparedness nationally and globally,” says Jaime Yassif, the Open Philanthropy Project’s program officer for Biosecurity and Pandemic Preparedness. “We think the goals of our two organizations are well aligned and that the Center has an excellent track record of producing quality research, analysis and policy recommendations. We believe that, with Open Philanthropy support, their advocacy and policy impact will be magnified and greatly expanded.”

Says Anita Cicero, JD, deputy director of the Center: “Our goals and mission are a great match with those of the Open Philanthropy Project. We are honored by their confidence in us and look forward to an extraordinary collaboration that will have a significant impact on biosecurity and preparedness.”

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Media contact for the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security: Matthew Watson at 201-491-4042 or mwatson@jhu.edu.

Media contact for Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Stephanie Desmon at 410-955-7619 or sdesmon1@jhu.edu.