Dean’s Report FY24

Harvard Medical School relies on dedicated donors to achieve its ambitious goal of enhancing the health and well-being of all people. We are fortunate to have numerous philanthropic supporters who stand with us. Their contributions strengthen our efforts to advance science, medicine, and education for the betterment of humanity.

This fiscal year, 3,546 alumni, friends, faculty, staff, foundations, and corporations donated nearly $118 million to the School. Their remarkable generosity drives the innovative work of our faculty, staff, postdoctoral trainees, and students.

Of note, Lisa Yang continued her generous support of the Hock E. Tan and K. Lisa Yang Center for Autism Research at Harvard University, which is advancing areas of neurobiology that will have a lasting impact on our understanding of autism spectrum disorder. Rodman W. Moorhead III, AB ’66, MBA ’68, and his wife, Alice, established a neurobiology seed grant fund to inspire groundbreaking projects aimed at treating brain diseases and disorders.

The Dunleavy Foundation created a fund that enhances the School’s efforts to train future scientists to harness the capabilities of artificial intelligence toward improving health care and advancing biomedical science.

Fujifilm expanded its fellowship funding for PhD students in the HMS Therapeutics Graduate Program, bolstering excellence in therapeutic science careers across academic and biopharmaceutical fields. Twin gifts from the Lynch Foundation and Mary Lynch Witkowski, AB ’96, MBA ’01, MD ’16, are fueling postdoctoral research in health equity.

To nurture future physician-scientist leaders, Robert Bast and his wife, Blanche, established an endowed scholarship for students in the Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Program. A bequest from physician Estherina Shems-Schotland created an endowed scholarship fund to assist an MD student member of the Joint Committee on the Status of Women.

Thanks to the steadfast backing of our benefactors, HMS will continue to lead in safeguarding human health.