SciLink Blog

This is an unprecedented amount of money to provide to a research institution. I think people forget just how amazing Eric Lander is as an executive and business person. You couldn’t ask for a better science based executive. Read below:

Less than five years into a ten-year groundbreaking experiment in philanthropy and science, the results are in. The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, which was founded in 2003 and launched in 2004 to test how effective venture philanthropy and inter-institutional collaboration could be in propelling biomedical progress, has been declared a resounding success, and will now become a permanent, standalone institution within the biomedical landscape.
At today’s celebration of its anniversary, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT received an unprecedented gift from its philanthropic founding partners Eli and Edythe L. Broad: an endowment intended to establish the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard as a permanent biomedical research organization. Eli and Edythe Broad announced their gift this morning at a ceremony featuring speeches by Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, MIT President Susan Hockfield, Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust, Nobel Laureate David Baltimore of Caltech, and Broad Institute director Eric Lander.
The unequalled $400 million endowment gift brings the Broads’ total commitment to $600 million. The gift is a testament to the success of the institute’s new model of research collaboration that spans the entire MIT and Harvard communities, including the 17 Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals. This model of collaboration aims to accelerate the pace of scientific progress and make data and tools rapidly and freely available. In its short history, the Broad Institute’s accomplishments include cataloging and identifying genetic risk factors for diseases such as type 2 diabetes and autism; discovering new therapeutic targets for cancer, malaria, and other diseases; and applying genomic tools to better understand and treat human pathogens like tuberculosis.
“Of all of our philanthropy, the Broad Institute has been the investment that has yielded the greatest returns,” said Eli Broad, founder of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. “This truly is a new way of doing science, and the Institute’s unique collaborative model for scientific research has resulted in remarkable accomplishments in a very short period of time. Although this is a large gift – the largest that we have ever made – it is only a fraction of what will be needed to unlock the enormous promise of biomedical research at MIT and Harvard. We are counting on others to step forward as partners in the next phase of this grand experiment. We are convinced that the genomics and biomedical work being conducted here by the world’s best and brightest scientists will ultimately lead to the cure and even the prevention of diseases.”
The Broads’ $600 million commitment is the largest to support biomedical research at a university anywhere in the world. The Broads initially invested $100 million in 2003 as a way to test the institute’s new approach to biomedical research. By 2005, the Broad Institute had already made significant accomplishments and progress, and the Broads’ invested a second $100 million. Their endowment of $400 million today will allow the Broad Institute to transition to a permanent, non-profit 510(c)(3) organization with both Harvard and MIT still at the heart of it, continuing to help govern the institute.
“Eli and Edythe Broad are true visionaries,” said Eric Lander, founding director of the Broad Institute. “They made an enormous bet in 2004. Their bet has paid off more handsomely than any of us imagined. It has unleashed the creative potential of a remarkable community of scientists. And, it has defined a new model for how scientists and institutions can work together.”
“There is no place in the world with as great a concentration of life sciences talent, resources, and vision as Massachusetts,” said Deval Patrick (D), Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. “With this significant endowment of the Broad Institute by Eli and Edythe Broad – and the collaboration and support of the industry, academia, business, and government through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative – we are on our way to helping find new cures for diseases, creating new jobs, and positioning ourselves for long-term economic growth.”
“To fully realize the benefits of the genomic sciences, scientific research must transcend the boundaries of disciplines, departments, and even institutions,” said Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust. “Through their continued philanthropy, the Broads have made that transcendence possible. I am grateful for their support of this important work and look forward to continuing our partnership with the Broad Institute.”
“Cambridge and Boston are world-renowned for their creative, scientific minds and unrivaled biomedical community, and the Broad Institute is uniquely positioned to realize the full potential of these intellectual resources,” said Susan Hockfield, president of MIT. “We are profoundly grateful to Eli and Edythe Broad for their generosity and vision, and look forward to continuing our many collaborative research efforts through the Broad Institute and defining the future of the field.”