A $2 million gift from Jean Balgrosky and Parker Hinshaw will make it possible for more aspiring public health students to pursue their academic goals at UCLA.
Beginning with the 2019–20 academic year, the Jean Balgrosky and Parker Hinshaw Fellowship will provide assistance with tuition and living expenses for incoming students with financial need at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. The gift to establish the fellowship will be matched by an additional $1 million from the UCLA Chancellor’s Centennial Scholars Match.
“Providing financial support to students is a top priority for the Fielding School,” said Yifang Zhu, the school’s acting dean. “This extraordinary gift from Jean and Parker will provide more students the opportunity to pursue public health degrees and to work in disadvantaged communities.”
Balgrosky, who earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in public health from UCLA, was the first recipient of the Fielding School’s Raymond D. Goodman Scholarship, in 1981. The award propelled her journey to becoming a chief information officer for large health systems, including Scripps Health, Holy Cross Health (now Trinity Health) and, currently, MD Revolution and MintHealth. She continues to be active in the Fielding School community, serving on the school’s advisory board and teaching a course on health information technology in the department of health policy and management.
Hinshaw also has a successful career in health. He is the founder of several health information technology consulting firms and has developed technology systems for Eli Lilly and Co. and Community Hospitals of Indianapolis.
Together, Balgrosky and Hinshaw founded Bootstrap Incubation and Venture Partners, a firm focused on investing in companies that create products and services aimed at improving health. Their gift is part of the Centennial Campaign for UCLA, which is scheduled to conclude in December 2019 during UCLA’s 100th anniversary year.
