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The Johns Hopkins received a $5 million anonymous gift to both establish a doctoral scholarship in honor of  and support activities to advance the Center’s mission to reduce human suffering caused by humanitarian emergencies and disasters. The doctoral scholarship received additional support from the PhD matching fund of the Department of International Health at the Johns ��ѻ��ý. 

Eh Kalu (1955–2020) was a public health visionary who devoted his life to helping populations affected by war and human rights abuses. The health system supporting the Karen people, an indigenous ethnic group from Burma (Myanmar), was in disarray for decades due to conflict with the Burmese government. In response, Eh Kalu helped launch the Backpack Health Worker Team, a mobile health service delivery to reach people living in active conflict zones too perilous to permit facility-based care. He also served as the head of Karen Department of Health and Welfare, responsible for delivering clinical and public health service to over a quarter million people in remote areas outside government control.

“Eh Kalu has been an inspiration to countless public health professionals around the world and, more importantly, to his own community, resiliently forging a healthy future despite forced displacement by a brutal military regime,” the donor said. “He showed how to effectively use evidence to increase survival and promote dignity of vulnerable populations in complex emergencies. Moreover, every day he showed how to complement a serious life of science with a deep reservoir of humility, humor and a caring commitment to community, friends, and family.”

Eh Kalu collaborated with several Johns Hopkins groups during his career, including the Malaria Institute, the , and the Center for Public Health and Human Rights (CPHHR). These efforts led to many advances in disease control and improvements in the access to and quality of health care across the globe. His sustained partnerships with the CPHHR and the Malaria Institute, for example, demonstrated the effectiveness of an integrated malaria control program in an area of active conflict. The model was later scaled to cover most of Southeast Myanmar and nearly eliminated transmission of Plasmodium falciparum as a public health problem.

As a long-time supporter of the Bloomberg School’s efforts focused on humanitarian health and human rights, the donor is also investing in the Center’s core activities of advancing research and training, along with empowering individuals, communities, and governments to use their expertise in humanitarian emergencies. The gift will support ongoing and new projects, and it will establish an innovation fund to allow faculty to continue pursuing work with their colleagues across the globe that research the most pressing needs of communities.

“I am very grateful for this show of support. Given the recent changes to the funding environment for humanitarian health, this gift will contribute to developing the next generation of humanitarian leaders and sustain the impactful work that our Center has been doing to help save and improve the lives of people living in some of the most dangerous parts of the world,” said Paul Spiegel, MD, MPH ’96, director of the Center for Humanitarian Health and Distinguished Professor of the Practice in the School's Department of International Health.