Dear Members of the HMS Quad Community,
I am thrilled to share that Harvard has announced a $150 million investment to advance promising scientific research across the University. This includes $100 million allocated to School-based priorities, for which HMS and other schools will receive an amount proportional to their federal funding expenditures.
This funding is not meant to fill budget gaps but rather to fuel HMS’ strategic priorities. We will direct the HMS-specific funds to support priorities identified in our BEACON Strategic Plan, including artificial intelligence and research computing infrastructure, collaborative and transformative foundational research, and core technologies and platforms. I will be gathering ideas from our preclinical department chairs so that we can make the most informed decisions about how to best direct these funds, subject to University review and approval. Some of the funds will be distributed following a call for specific research proposals that will be formulated and announced in the coming weeks.
Harvard will allocate the remaining $50 million to support cross-faculty, cross-discipline research initiatives in the following areas:
- Neuroscience (RFP forthcoming)
- Inflammation, infection, and immunology (RFP forthcoming)
- Energy and climate, through the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability (RFP available here)
- Translational research, through the Frontiers of Innovation for Societal Impact Fund (second-round RFP to be posted soon)
- Research and computing infrastructure, through investments in Harvard computational clusters, expanded access to cloud computing resources, improved access to leading artificial intelligence models, and strengthened data storage
I encourage our Quad faculty and researchers to apply for these University funding opportunities and to learn more about the Scientific Research Support Initiative, which represents one of Harvard’s largest ever direct investments in research.
As I mentioned in my recent State of the School address, court victories have restored the flow of federal research funding to Harvard and HMS, and thankfully Congress has sustained robust levels of federal research funding nationally. However, uncertainty persists. The pace of awards to research institutions across the country, including Harvard and HMS, has slowed markedly, which contributes to the significant deficit we are projecting for the current fiscal year.
This much-needed infusion of funds from the University comes at a critical time and will give a welcome boost to our research community. Please join me in thanking Harvard President Alan Garber, Provost John Manning, Senior Vice Provost for Research John Shaw, CFO Ritu Kalra, and the entire University leadership team for their generous commitment to our research enterprise.
Sincerely,
George Q. Daley
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
Harvard University