Vladimir Fencl and Montserrat de Miquel

In 1962, two European doctors found their paths intersecting in Boston, united by a shared passion for medicine. Vladimir Fencl, MD, CSc (Candidate of Sciences), from Czechoslovakia, joined the Harvard Medical School Department of Physiology as a research associate, investigating respiratory disturbances related to acid-base balances. Montserrat de Miquel, PhD, from Spain, worked as an HMS research fellow at Beth Israel Hospital, studying placental hormones. Four years later, the couple married.

After spending two years working at Oslo University Hospital in Norway, they returned to the U.S., where their careers flourished under the expansive reach of HMS. Fencl became an associate professor of anesthesia at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, which later merged into Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). He then became an associate professor of medicine and the medical director of respiratory care at BWH, retiring from the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in 1990.

De Miquel Fencl, meanwhile, returned from Norway with an offer from the HMS Department of Biological Chemistry to work as a research associate under the tutelage of Claude Alvin Villee Jr., PhD, at the Boston Hospital for Women, a former HMS teaching hospital that merged into BWH. A year later, she was tasked with building a laboratory dedicated to reproductive endocrinology. She eventually became an assistant professor at HMS in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology before retiring in 1987.

Sadly, Fencl passed away in 2002. Honoring his wishes, de Miquel Fencl established a revocable trust to benefit HMS. More than two decades later, having lived longer than she expected, she decided to amend the trust to distribute the funds immediately. Her recent gift of $1.5 million creates the endowed Montserrat and Vladimir Fencl Research Fund, aimed at advancing biomedical research by supporting faculty in areas such as biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics.

“Support for faculty research is crucial to HMS’s biomedical science mission, enabling novel ideas and exceptional work that promise breakthroughs for the future,” says David Golan, AB ’75, MD, PhD, dean for research initiatives and global programs at HMS. “Flexible gifts like this expand our understanding of health and disease, leading to improved medical care and enhanced quality of life.”

Now 97, de Miquel Fencl expresses gratitude to HMS for its profound impact as a nurturing environment for learning, research, clinical work, and teaching medical students and fellows, as well as for fostering lasting friendships within the Harvard community.