Our Donors
Philanthropy has the power to alleviate human suffering caused by disease. Working in partnership with the researchers and scientists at Harvard Medicine, our generous supporters have shown a commitment to training future generations of leaders in medicine and developing the research that will lead to advanced therapies for some of the most vexing diseases of our time, such as cancer, neurological disease, the diseases of aging, diabetes, and more.
Honor Roll of Donors 2011
Download our FY11 Honor Roll to learn more about the thousands of generous supporters who gave $95 million to advance Harvard Medical School's ground-breaking biomedical research and unparalleled medical education. Download now.
The Benefactor: Partners in Discovery
Download and read archived issues of our bi-annual publication to honor and acknowledge our most generous friends and supporters. Read more.
Fondation Bertarelli advances translational research with international partnership
Continuing its mission to advance translational medicine, Fondation Bertarelli has made a $1.8 million gift to Harvard Medical School. The generous gift continues the support of the family foundation, co-Chaired by Ernesto Bertarelli and his sister Dona, with his wife Kirsty and mother Maria Iris as members of the Board. Read more.
Louis Lange, MD '74, PhD supports next generation of MD-PhD candiates
Louis Lange, MD ’74, PhD is an internationally recognized expert in the field of molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular disease. Lange attributes his success to the foundation he built at Harvard Medical School. Read more.
Positive experience inspired J. David Wimberly gift to support Alzheimer's research
David Wimberly was so moved by his wife’s care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) that in 2009, he created the J. David and Virginia Wimberly Professorship in Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Just this year, Wimberly has continued his generosity with a $500,000 gift to Harvard Medical School to support the work of Dennis Selkoe, MD, co-Chair of the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center. Read more.
Yeu-Tsu Margaret Lee, MD ’61 returns help she was given
Yeu-Tsu Margaret Lee, MD ’61 who joined many members of her class in May 2011 for her 50th Reunion, recalled the enormous impact Harvard Medical School has made in her life. Read more.
Andrew Kang, MD '62 reflects on School's generosity more than 50 years ago
“I fell off my chair,” says Andrew Kang, MD ’62 recalling when he learned that he had been accepted into Harvard Medical School and that he was being given a scholarship. It was a “double gift,” he says. “I was very grateful to be going to the medical school I wanted to go to, and to be given the opportunity to be able to afford to go.” Kang has expressed his gratitude with a $400,000 charitable gift annuity. Read more.
Smith Family continues solid support for basic research
Richard and Susan Smith, through the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation, have continued decades of generous philanthropy to support basic biomedical research toward advancing our understanding of disease and how to treat and prevent it. The Foundation has granted a $300,000 Excellence in Biomedical Research Award to Joseph Loparo, PhD, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. Read more.
Simmons Foundation grants reveal answers about autism
The Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) has awarded grants to two outstanding members of the Harvard Medical School faculty. Michael Greenberg, PhD, co-Chair of the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center and Nathan Marsh Pusey Professor, has been awarded a $750,000 grant to advance his research into the possible genetic linkages between autism and a rare and severe neurodevelopmental disorder called Angelman syndrome. Peter Howley, PhD, the Shattuck Professor of Pathological Anatomy at Harvard Medical School, has been awarded a grant of $250,000 to support his research into autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Read more.
Cheryl Gorelick gift brings together literature and medicine
Ken Gorelick, MD ’67 loved literature and believed that the written word, particularly poetry, had therapeutic value for patients. He became a widely recognized leader in the use of poetry as a component of psychotherapy and regularly integrated poetry in the care of his own psychiatric patients. Read more.
Arthur Rosenfeld’s visionary gift makes a global impact
Arthur Rosenfeld, PhD changed the world. During the energy crisis of the 1970s, Rosenfeld, then a physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, founded the energy conservation movement. In spring 2011, he was awarded Russia’s prestigious Global Energy Prize. He used part of his award money to make a $150,000 gift to Harvard Medical School. Read more.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation supports research on innovative elder housing and care program
There’s an evolving way to grow old. The gray hair and wrinkles still exist, but a novel model of housing and caring for elders is cropping up around the country as a potential substitute to traditional nursing homes. Read more.
Good planning makes for good long-term results for Paul Weiden, MD '67
Paul Weiden, MD ’67 has a perfect solution. He has found a way to provide for his wife, Bev, while making a contribution to his alma mater with a charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT). This past year, he contributed $100,000 to his trust, which supports research and education at Harvard Medical School and also gives him a nice way to celebrate Bev’s birthday. Read more.
In memory of M. Judah Folkman, MD '57
M. Judah Folkman, MD ’57 is widely known as a pioneer in cancer research after his study of tumor angiogenesis became the basis for an entirely new modality for treatment. His death in 2008 was described by many as “a loss to the world at large.” Read more.
ResMed bolsters Farrell Prize in Sleep Medicine
ResMed Inc. has generously committed $300,000 in support of the Peter C. Farrell Prize in Sleep Medicine. Named for company Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Peter C. Farrell, PhD, DsC the Farrell Prize in Sleep Medicine has been awarded at Harvard Medical School since 2003 to outstanding scientists and physicians for their lifetime contributions to the field of sleep. This newly established fund will provide vital support to a prize of increasing distinction at HMS. Each year, events surrounding the Farrell Lecture and Prize in Sleep Medicine bring together faculty, fellows, and students in the Harvard community to advance the understanding and study of sleep. Read more.
Support from Dean Rizer, MD '38 gives students a head start
Dean K. Rizer, MD ’38 credited Harvard Medical School for preparing him for a successful life in medicine, and felt deep gratitude for the dedicated faculty who gave him what he described as a “head start.” Rizer, who died in 1994, expressed this gratitude by giving $100,000 to HMS through a charitable remainder trust, which has just been realized. His unrestricted gift will allow current and future students to tackle the challenges facing doctors today. Throughout his life, Rizer engaged in trying to improve the way medical students are able to handle changes in medicine as a result of politics and business. Read more.
Mark Schwartz's experience in Africa inspires giving to create sustainable change
For the last 10 years, Mark Schwartz has been traveling to some of the poorest regions of Africa to help care for vulnerable people suffering from HIV, TB, and other infectious diseases. Through this work, he says, he has been inspired by Paul Farmer, MD ’90, PhD, Kolokotrones University Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Schwartz’s gift of $100,000 will support the Program in Global Medical Education and Social Change—one of nine new initiatives Farmer has launched —which have as their mission to “promote excellence and equity in global health care delivery through leadership and innovation in research and education.” Read more.
Burroughs Wellcome Fund builds bridges
The goal to develop and grow bold new talent in the basic sciences is the driving force behind the Career Awards at the Scientific Interface given by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Stirling Churchman, PhD, Assistant Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, has received one of these prestigious grants. Read more.
Aetna to build knowledge about how and why drugs do and don't work
In its goal to further clinical research and improve the quality and affordability of health care, Aetna Life & Casualty Company is partnering with Harvard Medical School to support research in medical bioinformatics, led by Isaac (Zak) Kohane, MD, PhD, co-Director of the HMS Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBMI). Read more.
Lynn Thoman renews support for global health initiatives
Lynn Thoman, a longstanding member of the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows, has renewed her generous support for the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine (DGHSM) with a gift of $100,000 made through the Leon Lowenstein Foundation. Read more.
