A Pandemic-Free Future
Philanthropy is turning decades of global disease-fighting into a model for stopping the next pandemic before it starts.
For renowned epidemiologist Mark Smolinski ’94, philanthropy has always been central to his work. The nonprofit he started — Ending Pandemics, built to find and contain outbreaks — grew out of the Skoll Global Threats Fund, which eBay cofounder Jeff Skoll launched with a fixed budget of $100 million to spend within 10 years.
In 2025, Ending Pandemics transitioned from a nonprofit to an academic and research organization within the University of Arizona’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health called the Ending Pandemics Academy. Smolinski set up in a white casita on Mabel Street, just steps away from where he helped discover hantavirus and was part of the university’s first master of public health class decades earlier, assuming duties as the academy’s executive director.
Smolinski also holds the Jeff Skoll Endowed Chair in Ending Pandemics at the college’s Global Health Institute. Given the university’s track record of support, his personal love of Tucson and his high regard for former classmate Iman Hakim ’94 — dean, professor and Mel & Enid Zuckerman Endowed Chair of Public Health — Smolinski sensed it would be an ideal home for Ending Pandemics and calls the move a “no-brainer.”
The Ending Pandemics Academy works to keep communities safe through immersive, rigorous trainings for students and professionals.
It also builds tools to predict and prevent outbreaks before they spread.
In May, the Academy hosted EpiHack Arizona, a five-day sprint where students and professionals in public health, technology, veterinary and engineering fields worked side by side to create prototypes to flag outbreaks — whether they first occur in animals or humans.
One recent graduate wrote on LinkedIn that participating in the EpiHack was “one of the most meaningful things that happened to me this May,” Smolinski says, adding that the sincerity of the post nearly brought him to tears.
Smolinski points to Ending Pandemics’ earlier work in Cambodia as proof of what sustained investment can accomplish. The organization built a national hotline for people to report health threats and receive free information. During the coronavirus pandemic, it became the government’s principal mechanism for communicating trusted information to the public.
That track record recently helped draw a $5 million commitment from the Carlyle One Health Group, which will expand the Academy’s programs and train the next generation of disease detectives.
“We’re creating new opportunities for experiential learning and training, not only at the university, but for members of the community,” Smolinski says, “because everyone has a role to play in ending pandemics.”
