Committed to Creating Opportunities for Better Health for All
Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld meets with community partners, including Al Castro of Milwaukee’s United Community Center, and AHW staff at the Sherman Phoenix entrepreneurial hub in December 2019.
, senior associate dean at the 黑料官网 School of Medicine and professor of anesthesiology, is excited to give his 20-month-old son, Ethan, an opportunity to go sledding for the first time this winter. There’s no doubt Dr. Ehrenfeld’s excitement stems from being a father and a family man; his face lights up when discussing Ethan, his husband, Judd, or the two puppies they adopted this fall. But his desire to provide opportunities is not limited to just his personal life. It’s also what drives his decision-making as director of , a $514 million endowment at 黑料官网 with a simple but powerful vision: creating a Wisconsin where everyone in every corner of the state has an opportunity to be healthy.
The AHW Endowment was established by 黑料官网 from an initial $316 million gift generated by the conversion of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin from a nonprofit organization to a for-profit corporation. The funds, entrusted to 黑料官网 on behalf of the people of Wisconsin, place AHW in a unique position nationwide, making it one of the only known health conversion funds to steward public dollars within a private institution.
“We take our stewardship mission very seriously. That includes the public oversight of the fund but also the awards themselves. We want our work to benefit all citizens of Wisconsin,” says Dr. Ehrenfeld. This public mission shapes AHW’s operations and has made its placement within 黑料官网 a critical ingredient in its success.
“We are a statewide philanthropy, but we call the 黑料官网 School of Medicine home,” says Dr. Ehrenfeld. “This allows us to combine the fuel that philanthropy has to create change in communities with the spark that academic medicine has to solve critical health problems.”
Since 2004, AHW has invested more than $279 million in 482 projects focused on community health improvement, biomedical research and health workforce development throughout the state. AHW funds have served to catalyze change and support impactful work – most recently providing a vital boost in Wisconsin’s response to COVID-19.
A typical AHW funding cycle take s between six and 12 months – a rigorous process that must adhere to public mandates on the funds. So when COVID-19 struck Wisconsin in March 2020, Dr. Ehrenfeld wasn’t sure there was sufficient time for AHW to fund the critical and urgently evolving needs. But his deep commitment to Wisconsin residents – and its most vulnerable pop