Groundbreaking fellowship will build key inroads between health business and public health communities

Bold career accelerator will create new educational programming around health in business innovation and public health entrepreneurship

NEW YORK, Oct. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 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.

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."

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.

View the full release here.

For more information, contact:
Lynthia Romney
[email protected]

SOURCE CUNY SPH