Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships were established as part of a $350 million investment by Michael Bloomberg, Hopkins class of 1964, to Johns Hopkins University in 2013. Fifty faculty members, ten from Johns Hopkins University and forty recruited from institutions worldwide, will be chosen for these endowed professorships based on their research, teaching, service, and leadership records. In December 2021, it was announced that the program would be doubled in size, with an additional fifty professors bringing the total to one hundred scholars, made possible by a new investment by Michael Bloomberg. With recruitment beginning in 2022, the majority of the new professors will be recruited to work in clusters. These faculty-developed interdisciplinary clusters will recruit Bloomberg Distinguished Professors and junior faculty to Johns Hopkins University with the aim of conducting transformational research in crucial areas.

Johns Hopkins University is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins was the first American university based on the European research institution model. The university also has graduate campuses in Italy, China, and Washington, D.C.