The Los Angeles Post

Harvard Medical School receives record $200 million gift

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Harvard Medical School has received a $200 million donation — the largest in its history — to support research into fundamental questions about human illness and health.

The pledge, from the Blavatnik Family Foundation, will enable the school to hire researchers, add to its advanced technology, and a build an “incubator” in the Longwood area to help bring research findings to market.

for Business - 19innovation - Len Blavatnik, chairman and president of Access Industries Holdings LLC, poses for a photograph during the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists held at Cipriani in New York, U.S., on Monday, Nov. 15, 2010. The New York Academy of Sciences Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists acknowledge and celebrate the excellence of the most noteworthy young scientists and engineers in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. (Rick Maiman/Bloomberg) Library Tag 12192011 Business

But Harvard officials said the gift promotes loftier goals than just new hires and purchases. The money, they said, will free researchers to pursue the questions that intrigue them, even when no immediate application can be foreseen. At the same time, the incubator building and other resources are intended to more quickly translate scientific insights into therapies.

“Biomedicine is at a unique inflection point, marked by a dizzying pace of discovery and rapid proliferation of new technologies,” the release says. “The gift will enable Harvard Medical School to harness unprecedented opportunities for discovery and remove barriers that historically have stymied efforts to expedite the translation of basic insights into promising treatments.”

It quotes Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow on donor Len Blavatnik: “Len is one of this generation’s greatest philanthropists. He understands that great strides in human health comprise many steps taken by many people over long periods of time.”

The Blavatnik Family Foundation already extensively supports research, including a $250,000 award for young scientists.

The gift will fund the medical school’s “therapeutics initiative,” which aims to eliminate barriers that could slow the path from basic science discovery to clinical treatment — “such as insufficient funding for therapeutic discovery, inadequate support for enabling technologies and a cultural divide between academic and industry scientists,” the release says.

The money will also support cutting-edge research technologies including advanced microscopes, single-cell DNA sequencing, high-throughput drug screening and artificial intelligence. And it will create the Blavatnik Harvard Life Lab Longwood, the biotech incubator.

The foundation had already been a big donor to Harvard Medical School, including a $50 million gift five years ago.

The Boston Globe reports that Blavatnik donated $1 million to President Trump’s inauguration committee and has come under fire for allegations that he is connected with Russian oligarchs.