Innovative Research
The future of medicine starts at Mass General.
That’s been true for 200 years. Teams at Massachusetts General Hospital have made key insights into HIV/AIDS; created and shaped fields like cardiac surgery, immunology and transplantation; advanced new medical approaches for cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other complicated conditions; and so much more. And we’re just getting started.
We know that truly transformative advances often come from the most outside-the-box ideas. Mass General receives significant funding from traditional grantmaking institutions like the National Institutes of Health (NIH). However, investigators pursuing new or unproven areas of research can find it challenging to secure NIH funding for their work — the kind of biomedical science that turns big ideas into bold breakthroughs. That’s why visionary philanthropic support from donors like you is critical to transforming the future of medicine.
Please show your support and help our experts develop the treatments, techniques and technologies that will touch millions of lives now — and in the future.
Making Genomic Medicine Routine
“We are on the verge of a new era where people will get their genomes sequenced, and that data will influence care across a patient’s entire lifetime,” says Heidi Rehm, PhD, Chief Genomics Officer in Mass General’s Department of Medicine.
Genomic data have profoundly changed the way we diagnose, treat, prevent and understand disease, but according to Dr. Rehm, we have yet to fully leverage the vast potential of genomic medicine to improve human health.
Her role is to make genetics and genomics part of the everyday practice of medicine at Mass General. And her ultimate goal is for the global community to exchange knowledge about genomic variation and its role in disease in ways that allow all individuals to benefit.
A research powerhouse
- The largest hospital-based research enterprise in the U.S., with a budget of $1 billion in 2020.
- Awarded more NIH funding than any other independent hospital.
We’re dedicated to making game-changing discoveries that move medicine forward exponentially.
Our goal is to find new treatment options and make better health outcomes possible for patients at Mass General and around the world.
Imagine a future where …
- By developing new, powerful diagnostic and treatment tools, we turn the tide in our fight against the world’s deadliest diseases, including cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, substance use disorders and infectious diseases.
- We continue to change the course of human disease through new therapies and approaches, like a foam that stops internal bleeding in trauma patients and a groundbreaking strategy for regenerating heart tissue.
- We accelerate the process of bringing novel diagnostic technologies and therapeutic approaches from the laboratory to the bedside.
A commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion — including through our research — is central to the Mass General mission.
A number of planned research-related efforts reflect this focus.
For example, we’re aiming to foster diversity across our research enterprise. This includes supporting diversity among researchers and topics of study and engaging underrepresented patients in clinical trials to ensure that prevention and treatment strategies improve the health and well-being of every patient in our diverse community.
We’re also working to establish an Equity Innovation Laboratory that will allow faculty and staff to apply for microgrants that fund disparities-focused research and programs that encourage a wider range of K-12, college and graduate students and young adults to pursue health care professions.
Other funding priorities in medical research include the Mass General Research Institute, challenge-driven research programs, expanded clinical trial capacity, programs focused on increasing diversity, endowed chairs and scholars and the MGH Research Scholars program.
Mass General is thinking big about the future. We need your help to write medicine’s newest chapters.
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