Rollins Faculty Extend Their Public Health Impact Through Scholarship Funds, Endowments

Generosity of spirit is a shared attribute at Rollins that can regularly be observed in the ways members of the community conduct their personal interactions, how they allocate their free time, and where they direct their extra resources. For some, this generosity can also be illustrated through philanthropic activities. The following funds, started by Rollins faculty members Timothy L. Lash, DSc, chair of the Department of Epidemiology, and Cari Jo Clark, ScD, associate professor of global health, speak to both donors’ commitment to their students, to the school, and to the future of public health.

Clark initiated three funds benefiting Rollins students and staff working in the global health space. The Cari J. Clark Global Scholarship Endowment, established by Clark and her husband, Alvaro Alonso, MD, Stephen D. Clements Jr. Chair in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, is awarded to promising Master of Public Health or Master of Science in Public Health students, with a preference for international students. The Cari J. Clark Global Women’s Health Fund provides support for faculty, students, or staff working on global health research programs related to women’s health, and her most recent gift (committed in April 2024), the Cari Jo Clark Professional Staff and Student Support Fund, provides support for staff and students—including salaries, professional development, and other expenses—to recruit and retain research staff and students to work on the Cari Jo Clark global health team.

“I started the Cari J. Clark Global Women’s Health Fund because women's health and violence prevention are my professional passions and I wanted to support the pipeline of future women's health leaders,” Clark says. “I started the Cari J. Clark Global Scholarship Endowment to support foreign students and scholars, because everyone's education and scholarship is enhanced when we teach and conduct research in diverse institutions.”

She adds that she started her most recent fund to help retain professional staff and students working in the global health space. “A greater degree of job security supports the retention of excellent staff and doctoral students whose positions might be jeopardized in the face of unpredictable or unreliable funding streams,” Clark says.

Lash established the Timothy L. Lash Textbooks Scholarship Endowment ­to provide support for outstanding master’s students in the Department of Epidemiology. The scholarship was made possible, in part, by proceeds from his books, Applying Quantitative Bias Analysis to Epidemiologic Data, 2nd Edition and Modern Epidemiology, 4th Edition.

“Co-authoring two textbooks has been an important part of my academic career. They are a labor of love, and do not turn into a lot of financial gain, but a lot of the royalties come from student investments in what we have written. I appreciate the chance to return their support for our work to students through this Rollins scholarship fund,” Lash says.