Researchers and policymakers are looking for new ways to improve maternal health, strengthen mental well-being, reduce chronic disease and prepare communities for climate-related risks — challenges that require solutions reaching beyond any one discipline or sector. Washington University in St. Louis is launching an institute to advance that work.
With a significant philanthropic commitment from trustee Tony Ryan and his wife, Ann, WashU is establishing the Ryan Institute for Interdisciplinary Health Solutions in its new School of Public Health. The Ryan Institute will move evidence into action faster by convening leaders across sectors and catalyzing new solutions with the potential to address urgent health challenges.
The Ryan family’s gift creates an endowment to support the institute’s signature initiatives: annual global summits; seed grants to help interdisciplinary teams pilot promising ideas; and a postdoctoral fellowship program to build the next generation of public health scholars and practitioners.
Together, these efforts will create a recognized forum for applied research, draw exceptional talent to WashU and strengthen the School of Public Health’s impact as a leading voice in the global health conversation.
The Ryans’ investment, made through With You: The WashU Campaign, fuels the university’s broader strategy to launch the School of Public Health — WashU’s first new school in a century and one created during a post-pandemic period of profound global uncertainty. Yet, WashU leaders emphasize that these pressures also create an opening for bold innovation and a new kind of public health leadership.
“We think this is a remarkable opportunity for WashU to become a place where, when the world is looking for solutions to health issues, they go to Washington University,” Tony Ryan said. “This is a really important period in WashU’s history, and years from now, we will look back and recognize how profound this moment truly was.”
Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, the Margaret C. Ryan Dean of the School of Public Health, the Eugene S. and Constance Kahn Distinguished Professor in Public Health and vice chancellor for interdisciplinary innovation, said the Ryans’ commitment will help shape the trajectory of the school during its formative years.
“Our vision for the School of Public Health has been shaped by the faculty, staff, students and partners who believe in what we are building,” Galea said. “From the beginning, Tony and Ann Ryan have been among those champions. Their new gift elevates the school by establishing both a platform and a mechanism to attract, incentivize and recognize scholars committed to making sustained, strategic contributions to solving critical challenges. I am grateful for their partnership as we build on our successes and show what the School of Public Health can accomplish.”
Prioritizing practical results
The Ryan Institute is the first structured institute within the School of Public Health — built to support interdisciplinary teams addressing complex health challenges. WashU has long advanced applied and implementation research across its schools and centers; the new institute builds on that strength with a commitment to fast-tracking solutions that improve public health. While traditional academic structures value publication and the generation of novel ideas, the Ryan Institute extends that work by emphasizing real-world application and the sustained support needed to carry promising ideas into the field.
Each year, the Ryan Institute will host a global summit uniting leaders from academia, government and industry around a single pressing population health challenge. Faculty proposals, global partner input and population health needs will guide the annual focus, ensuring each summit targets a challenge where a coordinated effort can deliver meaningful and immediate impact.
“The Ryan Institute will focus on the global drivers of health worldwide,” Galea said. “These challenges demand interdisciplinary solutions, and the institute aims to accelerate both science and practical interventions.”
Summits will bring global partners and thought leaders to WashU and will be supported by a comprehensive communication strategy to elevate their visibility. After each convening, the institute will deploy seed funding to pilot the strongest ideas, enabling teams to build evidence for broader implementation.
Central to this work is the institute’s postdoctoral fellowship program, which will develop early-career scholars committed to solutions-focused public health research. The program will launch with four named fellowships: the Ann Clarson Fellow, the Margaret Clarson Fellow, the Mary M. McKay Fellow and the Michelle L. Niescierenko Fellow. These accomplished women are being honored given their contributions in health and influence on the Ryans — two generations of nurses in their family and two well-respected public health academic leaders: one an executive vice provost and professor at WashU and the other a physician and director of the Margaret C. Ryan Global Health Program at Boston Children’s Hospital who mentored their daughter, Maggie Ryan, AB ’16.
Fellows will take part in summit preparation, pilot execution and year-round implementation strategies, working closely with faculty partners to gain experience and help implement, test and scale solutions.
Tony Ryan stressed that accountability is essential to the institute’s mission, noting that measurable outcomes are central to the impact his family hopes to see.
“These challenges are big, complex, multi-dimensional,” Tony Ryan said. “They require a different type of approach — interdisciplinary, collaborative, strategic — and that’s what the institute is designed to do.”
The institute’s leadership and staffing are structured to provide the expertise and support necessary to advance its mission. An executive director will set the intellectual agenda, recruit and guide fellows, oversee grantmaking and coordinate partnerships across the university.
Investing in leadership
Ann Ryan noted that the couple’s philanthropic approach has long centered on fostering exceptional leadership. “We talk a lot between the two of us that our philanthropy supports leaders,” she said. “And it’s so clear the momentum Sandro has built for the school. He’s demonstrated remarkable leadership and assembled an outstanding team around him. There’s every reason to continue advancing work that is so meaningful to us.”
The Ryans helped catalyze the school’s early growth. Their gift to endow the Margaret C. Ryan Deanship in 2024 supported the recruitment of Galea, who assumed the helm in January as the school’s inaugural dean and enabled the rapid launch of programs, partnerships and faculty hiring that reflect the school’s ambitions.
Under Galea’s leadership, the school is elevating rigorous science while rethinking how public health engages with the world. The goal is a school that pairs academic excellence with practical impact, shaping solutions that matter for communities locally and globally.
WashU Chancellor Andrew D. Martin said the Ryans’ gift reinforces a shared institutional vision. “This gift strengthens our collective commitment to research that improves lives,” Martin said. “The Ryan Institute exemplifies the interdisciplinary approach we are building across WashU — one that brings together scholars, practitioners and community partners to address global challenges with rigor and imagination. This work is possible because of the generosity of Tony and Ann Ryan.”
About the donors
Tony and Ann Ryan are the parents of Maggie Ryan, who demonstrated a strong commitment to leadership and global health. Maggie died in a car accident just two days after earning her degrees in anthropology and in women, gender and sexuality studies, both in Arts & Sciences, from WashU.
The Ryans have made a series of gifts to WashU inspired by Maggie’s legacy. For many years, the couple supported the Maggie Ryan Endowed Memorial Scholarship, and in 2020, they established the Maggie Ryan Endowed Service Leader Scholarship for students committed to improving the health and well-being of others. In 2024, they endowed the Margaret C. Ryan Deanship of the School of Public Health.
The couple are members of the William H. Danforth Leadership Society, recognizing benefactors whose lifetime giving to the university totals $1 million or more. They previously served on the Washington University Parents Council. In 2024, Tony Ryan joined the university’s Board of Trustees. He also serves as chair of the School of Public Health National Council.
