By the end of 2020, there will be more than 500 Atlantic Fellows active in more than 60 countries, and over the next two decades, the network of Atlantic Fellows will grow to thousands.

Sustainable transformative change requires leaders with diverse skills and perspectives to learn from one another and collaborative on impactful solutions. Atlantic Fellows include doctors, scientists, artists, academics, lawyers, journalists, business professionals, government officials and activists.

The scale of diversity and inclusion in the community is unprecedented in any fellowship program in the world. Atlantic Fellows are active in 60 countries, working as leaders within or alongside organizations with a shared equity focus. Read about their activities and mission in the latest Global Cohort Book.

They are participating in seven distinct programs across five continents to advance fairer, healthier and more inclusive societies.

• 23% of Atlantic Fellows are active in 12 countries in Africa
• 28% of Atlantic Fellows are active in 20 countries in Asia
• 7% of Atlantic Fellows are active in two countries in Australasia
• 14% of Atlantic Fellows are active in 12 countries in Europe
• 24% of Fellows are from eight countries in North America
• 5% of Fellows are from five countries in South America

In 2016, Atlantic Philanthropies funded seven Atlantic Fellows equity programs and the Atlantic Institute, culminating its 35 years’ work, with over $8 billion investment to advance opportunity, health equity and dignity across the globe. Chuck Feeney, its founder, quietly committed his wealth to the service of humanity, believing in Giving While Living. Completing its grantmaking, the Atlantic Philanthropies invested $740 million – its biggest final “bet” – to support the global network of thousands of Atlantic Fellows in line with the vision of believing in people and their ability to realize a better world.

“‘We see an urgent need to harness the potential of thousands of thinkers and doers addressing inequalities in the world and we believe that in coming together to imagine, provoke, innovate and collaborate, their collective impact will be greater. That’s the idea behind the Atlantic Institute and the lifelong community of Atlantic Fellows.’

— Christopher G. Oechsli, Board Chair of the Atlantic Institute

Each of the seven Atlantic Fellows programs is focused on solving a distinct 21st-century problem. They include reducing the impact of dementia worldwide; achieving health equity in South Africa, Southeast Asia and the United States; advancing racial equity in the United States and South Africa; improving the wellbeing of communities in Australia and the Pacific by drawing on the knowledge and expertise of Indigenous people; and addressing global inequalities.

The Fellows programs include:

• Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health based at The Global Brain Health Institute at Trinity College Dublin, and the University of California, San Francisco
• Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity in Southeast Asia based at The Equity Initiative at the China Medical Board in Bangkok
• Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity based at the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics
• Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity in South Africa based at TEKANO
• Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity based at The University of Melbourne
• Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity based at Columbia University in New York City and the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg
• Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity based at George Washington University’s Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity