Harvard Medical School (HMS) is accelerating the pace of therapeutic discovery and supporting initiatives aimed at solving some of humanity’s most acute biomedical challenges thanks to the landmark $200 million commitment from Len Blavatnik and the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The largest commitment in the School’s history, it is propelling HMS's mission to transform health through curiosity-driven research that stimulates the development of new therapies and tools to diagnose and prevent disease.
The Blavatnik Commitment to HMS supports four key areas:
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The HMS Therapeutics Initiative, which is enhancing the impact of fundamental curiosity-driven research and catalyzing the development of new therapies. Key Update: HMS is developing a complementary suite of programs designed to speed the transition from basic insights in the lab to lifesaving therapies on the clinical frontlines. |
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Fertile intellectual communities that integrate data science and artificial intelligence capabilities and applications. Key Update: Researchers at HMS and Oxford University have designed an AI tool called EVE (Evolutionary model of Variant Effect), which uses a sophisticated type of machine learning to detect patterns of genetic variation across hundreds of thousands of nonhuman species and then uses them to make predictions about the meaning of variations in human genes. |
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A collaborative grants program that inspires cross-disciplinary research partnerships across the Harvard life sciences ecosystem. Key Update: Now in their second year, the 2021 Blavatnik Therapeutics Challenge Awards grants have been awarded to projects researching fatal telomere diseases, congenital deafness-and-blindess syndromes, blood disorders, and skeletal conditions. |
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The Blavatnik Harvard Life Lab at Longwood, which will provide incubator space for early-stage, high-potential biotech startups. |
Featured Stewardship Report
Blavatnik Institute at HMS - 2020 Stewardship Report for Blavatnik Family Foundation
Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School
In recognition of this commitment, HMS named the Blavatnik Institute—an umbrella research institute that encompasses the School’s 11 basic and social science departments. Led by HMS Dean George Q. Daley, the Blavatnik Institute is home to world-class faculty working to solve the greatest problems of human health through fundamental and translational biomedical science research.