donato-tramutoChairman and Founder of Health eVillages since 2011, Donato J. Tramuto is a recognized innovator, industry leader, and global healthcare activist.

Tramuto joined Healthways’ board in 2013 and became chairman in 2014. In 2008, he founded Physicians Interactive Holdings (now Aptus Health, a subsidiary of Merck following the company’s sale in 2013), a global provider of digital engagement solutions, where he served as chairman and CEO. In 2011, Tramuto founded the nonprofit Health eVillages to provide mobile health technology in challenging clinical environments. He is also chairman and founder of the Tramuto Foundation, which helps individuals and organizations achieve educational and healthcare goals.

In 2014, Tramuto received the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award for his commitment to social change; the following year, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. In 2005, 2009, and 2015, PharmaVOICE recognized him as one of the top 100 most inspirational healthcare leaders.

Tramuto recently published a book, Life’s Bulldozer Moments: How Adversity Leads to Success in Life and Business.

Tramuto serves on several executive leadership boards, including the Dean’s Advisory Board of SPH.

In 2013, the Tramuto Foundation endowed a scholarship fund at SPH to provide support for outstanding international students close to completing the MPH degree.

Tramuto spoke with us about his support for SPH.

What led to your endowing a scholarship for international students pursuing their master’s in public health at SPH?

Talia Buksbaum (SPH‘21) Program Management

“Being a highly adaptable and compassionate individual, I hope to use my MPH to influence future social interventions that achieve health equity at the behavioral, community and societal levels. Thank you.”

This opportunity had three very important elements. First, as the founder of Health eVillages, a global nonprofit organization enabling safe and efficient medical care in the most challenging clinical environments, the global aspect of this endowment was very attractive to me.

Second, as the founder of the Tramuto Foundation, an organization that reaches out to young people who have had challenges in their life, and as someone who has overcome many challenges myself, I can relate to providing assistance to these students at a critical time in their education. I lived for many years in isolation as a result of having lost a significant amount of my hearing at age 8. I went through a long, dark period of having a disability, and having many people believe that I would not amount to anything in life. In my book Life’s Bulldozer Moments: How Adversity Leads to Success in Life and Business, I highlight the tenacity and resilience that we as individuals innately have within ourselves. What we all need are the right antecedents and opportunities to pursue our dreams, hence, I felt that this scholarship tied in nicely with my own values.

Last but not least, I’ve had a remarkable career, one that nobody ever thought would be realized because the many losses in my life could have prohibited my success. I not only lost my hearing during childhood, but also lost my brother, and later my nephew, in car accidents. My sister-in-law, who was also my speech therapist after I partially regained my hearing, died in childbirth. My grandfather was shot at his home in a robbery. And, two close friends and their three-year-old son lost their lives
on 9/11, on a flight that I should have been on but wasn’t because I ended up leaving the night before. All of these challenges have made me realize that it’s not about doing great things, it’s about doing little things that have the capacity to drive great change. I saw this scholarship as a small gesture that would allow the School of Public Health to continue its great mission and vision in making the world more just and fair.

What makes SPH special to you?

Bala Niharika Pillalamarri (SPH‘21) Epidemiology and Biostatistics

“Using my skills in biostatistics, as well as my biological knowledge of cancer, will assist me in cancer prevention. Boston University’s School of Public Health, with
its collaborative environment and flexibility, will facilitate this goal. The structure of the curriculum establishes the foundation with an integrated core and provides a specialization in biostatistics and practicum to enhance professional development.”

Our lives are not segmented, nor are institutions. They are dynamic. What a student stands to receive from BU is a sense of caring, a sense of purpose, a sense of commitment.

I’m very impressed with Dr. Galea and his keen intellect and sense of purpose, as well as his desire to do the right thing for students to encourage them, empower them, hold them accountable, and to make the world better for all humanity. That’s terrific. I have seen elements of those variables in other organizations, but I have not seen any other organization integrate all of them so that you have a dynamic experience.

I think whoever goes to the School of Public Health is fortunate! I sense the fervor of kinship every time I’m there for a board meeting—I’m enlightened, I’m charged up, and I feel that energy and that passion. The key ability of one to listen, to ensure that we do the right thing and we don’t just do things right, is terrific, and I think that’s what any student who’s so fortunate to be associated with the School of Public Health will experience.

If someone told you they  were considering giving to SPH, what would you tell them?

Everybody should make an effort to make the world a better place in whatever way they can. It’s not about how much you give, it’s about the fact you gave. It’s not about how much you do, it’s the fact that you did something, and that’s how I live my life. I know a lot of people will say, “Well, if you didn’t have this success—” and I say, wait a minute, when I was not successful, I still had these key values. We have to all acknowledge and recognize that if we each just did a little something, this world would be so amazing.