NEW ORLEANS — The Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Health now bears the name of Cleveland-based philanthropist and Newcomb graduate Celia Scott Weatherhead.
Wednesday, Tulane announced Weatherhead has now pledged more than $160 million in lifetime giving to the university. This includes a new gift to help fund population health programs and research at the school’s downtown campus.
Celia’s gift will establish the School of Public Health as one of the top programs in the world,” Tulane President Michael Fitts said. “They will have a monumental real-world impact on improving and saving lives both here in Louisiana and across the globe.”
Fitts did not disclose the amount of Weatherhead’s latest gift but said it would be the largest single donation in the history of Tulane University. It is expected to transform the university’s School of Public Health into one of the top schools of its kind in the United States.
“I am thrilled to support the university’s goals and long-term strategy for educating public health professionals, empowering groundbreaking research and building a healthier world, starting with the city of New Orleans, but aiming for global results,” Mrs. Weatherhead said.
The gift will impact the school across the board, going forward.
“Celia Scott Weatherhead’s gift is awe-inspiring because of the magnitude of what it will do,” School of Public Health Dean Thomas LaVeist said.
“This gift obviously will ensure students will be able to get more scholarship support at Tulane University, will be able to recruit faculty and support them in efforts, public health efforts in cancer and other areas,” Fitts told WWL Louisiana.
According to Tulane, Weatherhead’s contribution will provide seed funding to support the development of research hubs in areas such as cancer control, climate change and health, health equity, health policy, infectious disease epidemiology, public health workforce development, and applications of artificial intelligence to the study of population health.
The newly named school is the first at the university named for a graduate of Tulane University’s Newcomb College where Weatherhead earned a bachelor’s degree in theatre in 1965.
“Celia Scott Weatherhead has been an engaged, devoted, beloved alumnus of Tulane,” Fitts said. “She and her late husband Albert have supported this institution across the university.”
Tulane has the oldest school of public health in the United States. With Weatherhead’s support, the school is expected to continue and expand vital research efforts into cancer prevention and other population health areas well into the future.
“This is a great day for Tulane University,” Fitts said. “But let me also underscore, it’s a great day for New Orleans and Louisiana and health outcomes in this region, we’ve got to do better. I think this is a major part of that effort.”
The gift is also expected to advance Tulane’s plan to expand its downtown campus, where the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is located.
