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Madieu Williams Makes Generous Donation to Establish SPH Center for Global Health Initiatives

The first $2 million donation to SPH was made to the School to establish the Herschel S. Horowitz Center for Health Literacy. UMD-College Park President Dr. Dan Mote Jr. said the two major contributions have created a momentum for our young School. He also emphasized that “We expect continued growth and prosperity and contributions for this School.”

The second $2 million dollar gift was announced last week, and it will create an international tie between Freetown, Sierra Leone and Prince George’s County, Maryland.

Alumnus of the School of Health and Human Performance (now SPH) and Minnesota Vikings free safety, Madieu Williams, announced that his donation will be used to create the Madieu Williams Center for Global Health Initiatives, addressing public health issues of his birthplace, Freetown, and of Prince George’s County, Md.

“I feel very blessed and very fortunate to be in a position to be able to do it,” said Mr. Williams in an interview with The Healthy Turtle following the conference. “But more importantly, I hope that it can be utilized for years to come to improve the lives of people in both Prince George’s County and in Freetown, Sierra Leone.”

This isn’t the first of Mr. Williams’ acts of philanthropy. He started the Madieu Williams Foundation, when he began his professional career with the Cincinnati Bengals, and he has continued the work as a team-member for Minnesota Vikings. Through the foundation, Mr. Williams built a playground before leaving Cincinnati, holds football clinics, health screenings, health interventions and educational programs for youth. Last year he also built a school in Freetown, and helped to provide uniforms for the football team at his high school, DuVal High in Prince George's County.

The gift announcement was made at a press conference on Wednesday, Nov. 4th. Other participants in the program included SPH’s Dean Robert Gold, University President Dan Mote Jr., U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone Bockarie Stevens, and Chief of Staff in the county executive’s office, Michael Herman.

On Tuesday, Nov. 3, Mr. Williams and SPH held a workshop to discuss the next steps in the establishment of the new Center and ways to address the anticipated challenges of creating the Center. It was attended by public health and medical leaders from SPH, UMD-College Park, UMD-Baltimore, and other renowned professionals working in the global health arena. In discussing possible areas of focus for the Center, participants pointed out that, although Freetown and Prince George's are very different, there are some similar health issues in both, including the high infant mortality rates.


Read more about the announcement and the Center at: SPH Web site, ASPH Friday Letter, The Washington Post, and The Diamondback. Read more about Mr. Williams’ other philanthropic activities through the Madieu Williams Foundation here.

by Shannon Hoffman