Dalio Philanthropies has a strong interest in health – both physical and mental. We believe that equal access to high quality healthcare is a foundation for a just society.
Grants in this area have been made to establish the Dalio Center for Health Justice at New York-Presbyterian Hospital; to support bipolar clinical research and patient care; to expand access to meditation; and to provide healthy food to low-income communities and prenatal vitamins to expectant mothers.
Dalio Center for Health Justice
The Dalio Center for Health Justice at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, launched in October 2020 through a $50 million donation from Dalio Philanthropies, aims to understand and address the root causes of health inequities with the goal of setting a new standard of health justice for the communities it serves.
The Dalio Center for Health Justice has four focus areas:
- Education and Leadership – Developing future leaders with programming that emphasizes the role structural inequities play in health.
- Research and Implementation Science – Connecting research experts from various disciplines to engage in community-based research that will promote equity in healthcare for socially at-risk populations.
- Clinical and Community Strategy and Implementation – Collaborating with medical school partners and hospital operations to develop new institutional projects focused on improving the quality of and access to care.
- Data and Infrastructure – Developing a rich health equity database that will be used to identify differences in health outcomes, target new initiatives, and measure ongoing impact.
Mental Health Research
Dalio Philanthropies has partnered with John Hopkins Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences to fund research, programs, and researchers focused on understanding, treating, and reframing the narrative on mental health issues. Since the early 2000s, Dalio Philanthropies has supported the Johns Hopkins Mood Disorder Center. Among the Mood Disorder Center’s programs is the Adolescent Depression Awareness program, which provides a curriculum and training that reaches 150,000 high school students. Recently, Johns Hopkins Psychiatry established the Precision Medicine Center of Excellence in Mood Disorders, which uses data to connect genetics, predictive analytics, digital phenotyping, and specialized bipolar clinic information for a fully integrated state-of-the-art facility.
Meditation
Dalio Philanthropies supports organizations providing meditation training, including the David Lynch Foundation and the World Community for Christian Meditation, as a way to improve mental health and reduce stress. One of our longstanding grantees, the David Lynch Foundation, helps to prevent and eradicate trauma and toxic stress among at-risk populations by promoting widespread implementation of meditation to improve their health, cognitive capabilities, and performance in life. Grants from Dalio Philanthropies have provided meditation training for at-risk schoolchildren, veterans, and health workers.
Prenatal Health and Nutrition
Dalio Philanthropies supports communities to access the nutrition they need to thrive. Examples of our work in this area include a partnership with Fair Food Network, a nonprofit that pioneers solutions supporting farmers and strengthening local economies while increasing access to healthy foods. Through the Fair Food Network’s Double Up program, Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) participants receive a dollar-for-dollar match on the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables. Dalio Philanthropies’ recent support has focused on expanding the Double Up Food Bucks Program to reach more expectant mothers and children at a critical phase of their development.
Additionally, Dalio Philanthropies supports Vitamin Angels, a global public health organization that distributes life-changing vitamins and minerals to at-risk mothers, and children under five years of age in both the U.S. and around the world. Vitamin Angels and their partners serve over 60 million women and children in 65 countries.
