Excerpt from CUNY SPH Foundation Press Release:
Bold career accelerator will create new educational programming around health in business innovation and public health entrepreneurship
NEW YORK, October 19, 2022 - CUNY SPH Foundation Board Member Michael Meng committed $150,000 to establish the Michael Meng Fellowship in Healthcare Business Innovation (“Fellowship”), which will prepare CUNY SPH students with transformational business and entrepreneurial skills at the intersection of health business and public health sectors, two crucial communities driving forward health in New York City.
Michael Meng, CUNY SPH Foundation Board Member
The Fellowship will enroll ten Health Policy and Management students into an intensive four-semester extra-curricular program to build their expertise and knowledge in health business. Fellows will learn directly from respected business executives and leaders, receive premier access to professional development at the Career Skills Academy and experience hands-on training in public health entrepreneurship at Firefly Innovations, a global ecosystem of public health entrepreneurs, experts, and investors.
“The Michael Meng Fellowship is a bold initiative that elevates our goal of driving equity in public health care,” said Dr. Ayman El-Mohandes, Dean of CUNY SPH. “By preparing the next generation of public health professionals with critical business and entrepreneurial skills, the Fellowship will fuel innovation and public health access in our great city.”
“As a Foundation Board Member, I have seen first-hand the tremendous potential of CUNY SPH students in achieving excellence and delivering public health solutions with empathy and understanding,” Meng said. “That is why I am very excited to equip them with real-life business tools and confidence to change the future of public health for the better.”
Students will receive mentorship and career guidance, and learn directly from respected health business executive Bunny Ellerin, co-founder and CEO of NYC Health Business Leaders, as a Visiting Professor. This ambitious program will receive guidance and support from Professor Terry Huang, a globally renowned expert in public health entrepreneurship who launched Firefly Innovations in 2019.
“One of the most important elements of this program is exposing our students to the kinds of career paths that are possible with an MPH, making them believe they can build a future in an area that they had never thought of before,” said Professor Huang. “With incoming cohorts, this Fellowship will also be an opportunity to attract and recruit top talent from around the country.”
Operationalizing Health Business Education
The Fellowship will prepare students to apply their public health education in the health business environment and to increase their knowledge of health business and its relationship to public health. Topics which will transcend traditional public health education and include hands-on opportunities for students to learn directly from business executives and leaders.
“When the school reached out to me, I knew I wanted to be part of this,” said Ms. Ellerin. “I am doing this because I believe strongly in using public health as a springboard to bring new people into the business of healthcare. This program will expose students to real life opportunities in the ways they can use their training and education to bridge the gap into business.”
“In five years, the CUNY SPH Foundation has made our preeminent graduate education more affordable and attainable to deserving students,” said Adam M. Doyno, Executive Director of CUNY SPH Foundation. “With this Fellowship so generously funded and profoundly envisioned by Michael Meng, their ambitions and their impact can soar.”
About Michael Meng
Michael Meng is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Stellar Health. Michael has invested in healthcare companies for the past decade and has years of experience working in the field. Prior to Stellar Health, Michael was a Principal at Apax Partners, a large-cap global private equity firm where he deployed $3 billion of capital. He has served on the board of companies including Vyaire Medical, Medicomp, One Call Care Management, and TriZetto. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the CUNY School of Public Health Foundation as Treasurer, as a member of the Foundation’s Executive Committee, and as a Board Member of the Global Language Project. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and his MBA from Wharton.
About CUNY SPH
The CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) is committed to teaching, research, and service that creates a healthier New York City and helps promote equitable, efficient, and evidence-based solutions to pressing health problems facing cities around the world. Located in Harlem, CUNY SPH is the top-ranked public school of public health in New York City, New York State, and the tristate region.
About CUNY SPH Foundation
The CUNY SPH Foundation’s mission is to advance the achievement of CUNY SPH’s mission, vision, and values as New York City’s public school of public health through fundraising, building strategic partnerships and providing services as a champion for the school’s students as they embark on public health careers and its faculty as they work to educate the next generation of public health professionals.