(PHOTO: Bill and Tish Slattery near the HealthEU construction site on the Elon University campus on April 9, 2026. Contributed.)
Elon University in North Carolina has received a major gift from a Rye family. Bill and Tish Slattery will name the university’s new center for health and wellness and also create 14 additional scholarships in the university’s Odyssey Program to assist talented students with significant financial need. The exact amount of the gift was not disclosed.
“The Elon community is deeply honored to name the HealthEU Center in recognition of the Slattery family,” said Elon President Connie Ledoux Book. “This extraordinary investment from Bill and Tish Slattery will help Elon meet its mission to transform the mind, body and spirit of every student, and prepare healthy graduates ready to share their gifts with the world.”
Slattery Center & Impacts of Social Media
Slattery Center is a central component to the university’s broader HealthEU initiative that focuses on six dimensions of health and wellness: community, emotional, purpose, financial, physical and social. The three-story center will feature new classrooms, student-faculty research spaces, multiple floors for wellness and fitness activities, and the Mark and Kim Tyson Counseling Center, which will provide individual and group therapy, as well as workshops and outreach programs.
Through coursework, as well as workshops and training programs focused on health and wellness, Slattery Center will impact all students as they progress through their education and learn essential skills and practices related to wellness and well-being. The center is a key priority of the Boldly Elon strategic plan that will guide the university to 2030. Scheduled to open in fall 2026, Slattery Center will be located within Elon’s Innovation Quad, home to the university’s engineering and other STEM programs.
“My career at the intersection of science and investment often requires decades to witness the outcomes of success,” said Bill Slattery. “HealthEU is an opportunity to intervene with our students at an early age and engage in these activities in a more structured, thoughtful way, and hopefully reduce some of their adversities in life.”
“I believe social media has impacted students greatly, and institutions like Elon that provide centers like HealthEU will be at an advantage going forward,” Tish Slattery said. “Health and wellness encompass so much more than just the physical aspect. I’m incredibly grateful that we’re able to impact Elon with this gift.”
(PHOTO: A rendering of the Slattery Center at Elon University, due to open in the fall of 2026. Contributed.)
Scholarships
The Slatterys’ gift will also endow the William and Tish Slattery Odyssey Program Scholarship, funding 14 new scholarships in the program that gives students with high financial need and/or no family history of college attendance access to Elon. These new investments bring the total number of Odyssey Program scholarships to nearly 300, more than halfway to the university’s goal of having a total of 400 Odyssey Scholarships, or 100 scholars per class, as called for in the university’s strategic plan.
Slattery Family
The Slatterys have operated the Slattery Family Foundation since 2015. Their daughter Madelyn graduated from Elon in 2024, and their son James is an Elon sophomore.
Bill Slattery is a partner at Deerfield Management Company, Therapeutics. Prior to joining Deerfield in 2000, Slattery served as a senior healthcare analyst for 10 years at Amerindo Investment Advisors in New York, where he oversaw biotechnology investments. He has also held various positions in research, including those at National Medical Enterprises, Johnson & Johnson, and HMSS. He is the former chair of Red Door Community, which supports those impacted by cancer and their families.
Bill Slattery was elected to Elon’s Board of Trustees in 2024. Tish Slattery is a member of the Slattery Family Foundation and served in administration at Amerindo Investment Advisors. Recently, Tish was named chair of the Miss Hall’s School Arts Advisory Council.
