Every endowed professorship at HMS began with an act of generosity. Grateful patients, colleagues, families, and visionary donors established these chairs to advance a field, an idea, or the search for a cure. Several honor faculty who helped found whole disciplines, including neonatology, neurology, cardiac surgery and transplant surgery. Others were named by donors to honor a beloved mentor or colleague whose work shaped their lives.
The founding donors could not have foreseen the discoveries and clinical advances their gifts would make possible over generations of incumbents. Still, they saw that lasting support for exceptional people builds an exceptional community. Each professorship supports a single faculty member, and taken together, these chairs have helped make HMS the collaborative community it is today.
Named professorships are the highest honor HMS confers. Past and present incumbents include Nobel laureates and members of the National Academies. With each new appointment, the professorship adds to a lineage of scholarship and contribution that carries its name in perpetuity. Learn about endowing a professorship →