Bloomberg's $300M gift to Hopkins focuses on public health

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is giving $300 million to Johns Hopkins University to deal with public health challenges.

The university announced the gift Thursday. Officials say the money will create the Bloomberg American Health Initiative.

The initiative will study ways to fight air pollution, gun violence and obesity.

Hopkins says Bloomberg has given $1.5 billion to the university since he graduated in 1964. Spokesman Dennis O'Shea says officials believe Bloomberg is the first person to give this much to a single U.S. institution of higher education.

Maria di Mento, staff writer with The Chronicle of Higher Education, says John D. Rockefeller Sr. gave tens of millions of dollars to what is now Rockefeller University in New York. She says with inflation, those donations might rival Bloomberg's.