Gilead Sciences, Inc. has announced that the Gilead Foundation’s Creating Possible Fund will provide $20 million to 13 inaugural grantees. The fund was launched to support strategies that advance health through education equity, with the main focus on building a pipeline of Black health leaders.

The Gilead Foundation contributes to local communities where Gilead employees live and work, with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, social services, and sustainability programs.

“Through the work of the Gilead Foundation, 13 organizations have been selected as inaugural Creating Possible Fund grantees, who are national leaders, thinkers, and change-makers in education, health and racial equity, adolescent mental health, and social justice,” said Korab Zuka, Gilead Foundation president and vice president, public affairs, Gilead Sciences. “We know that inequities in health stem from larger structural inequities that are embedded in our society, laws, economy, and particularly our educational systems. With assistance from leaders in education and health, we believe we’ve chosen a group of innovators in health equity who will make a meaningful impact on society.”

According to a National Academies of Science report, extensive studies indicate a link between educational attainment, which is the level of education a person has achieved, and health indicators, including access to health services, life expectancy, and death from disease. Over the last 40 years, in all regions of the U.S., the gap in health between people with high and low education has become wider.

The Creating Possible Fund grantees were selected due to their approaches to tackling equity gaps in education and health for youth in the United States. The 13 Creating Possible Fund inaugural grantees include Morehouse College, the Center for Excellence in Education,  and The Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana.

“Thanks to the Gilead Foundation’s support for advancing educational equity, more than a thousand students in New Orleans will have access to pre-college STEM programs for the first time,” said Reynold Verret, Ph.D., president of the Xavier University of Louisiana. “The Creating Possible Fund will help develop and support a new generation of possible Xavierites who will go on to continue our legacy of excellence as Black STEM leaders, healthcare providers, and educators. At Xavier, we are blessed to educate future changemakers at all levels.”

The Creating Possible Fund is just one pillar through which the Gilead Foundation works toward its vision of health equity for all.