Title:Georgetown couple gives thanks with gift to School of Health

In support of Dean Christopher King and his vision for the newly redesigned School of Health, Laura (NHS’03) and Mike (B’03) Yaeger established the School of Health Dean’s Leadership Priorities Fund with a gift of $150,000—a gift they see as an expression of gratitude to Georgetown for starting them on the path toward their family and careers.

The fund will work to support operations, programming, and research at the new School of Health—established in 2022 alongside the School of Nursing in a reenvisioning of the School of Nursing & Health Studies—and will help the school adapt and seize new opportunities, according to its dean.

“We are dreamers who dream of a just and equitable world where all people can achieve optimal health and well-being,” says School of Health Dean Christopher King. “The Yaeger gift will take us one step closer to our wish. Their support will expand the body of knowledge, foster transformational experiences in the classroom, and create opportunities for students to do life-changing work in the real world.”

As one of the first graduates of the former School of Nursing & Health Studies, Laura Yaeger is excited to support new research opportunities and future endeavors.

“My family owes so much to Georgetown,” says Laura, who now serves on the School of Health Board of Strategic Advisors. “I loved being a part of the health studies program and this fund will help support new initiatives, including research into such fields as artificial intelligence.”

A reinvisioned school

One of 11 schools at Georgetown University, the stand-alone School of Health was founded in 2022, when the School of Nursing & Health Studies was separated into two schools.

The school comprises three academic departments: Global Health, Health Management and Policy, and Human Science. It offers undergraduate majors in Human Science, Global Health and Health Care Management and Policy, as well as graduate programs in Global Health, Health Systems Administration, and Clinical Quality, Safety & Leadership.

The School of Health is a home for scholars and students to work collaboratively across disciplines and across the university to address human health and well-being from various perspectives—health care and health delivery systems, science, policy, law, economics and the humanities—to achieve a deeper understanding of the interconnections among the most challenging issues of our time, and to find solutions.

“This generous gift will take us one step closer to an unmatched academic destination that advances health and well-being through innovative research, interdisciplinary education, and transformative engagement with communities,” says King. “At our nascent stage of formation, this level of support will be instrumental in shaping the identity of the School of Health and distinguishing it from the rest.”

A New South love story

Laura and Mike Yaeger met as first-year students in 1999. “I met Mike in New South before classes even started,” recalls Laura. “We immediately became friends and both he and Georgetown have been threaded throughout my life ever since.”

After graduation, the two Hoyas eventually married and had three children. Their eldest is named Copley, after Georgetown’s Copley Hall, where the couple shared their first kiss.

“A large part of this gift is motivated by my wife and my appreciation to Georgetown for our family,” shares Mike, who serves as treasurer of the Board of Governors of the Georgetown University Alumni Association. “I owe my education, career path, and family to Georgetown.”

“Back during the Alumni House renovations of 2005, we were happy to support Georgetown and you can actually see a caricature of us on the Founders Wall,” he continues. “In our caricature, Laura and I are standing in front of Dahlgren Chapel’s water fountain. We aren’t married yet, but in the drawing, it looks like we are already husband and wife. It was meant to be.”