Research is the foundation of modern medicine. From the X-ray to the MRI, antibiotics to immunotherapy, research has delivered the methods and means that made this moment in medicine possible. But healthcare is not static, and the challenges are ever evolving. With each year, new pathogens emerge, new findings alter our understanding of human health and the global burden of disease keeps growing. Without research, healthcare would falter. And yet, research is not self-sustaining. Progress depends on philanthropic partnership.
For decades, the Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation and members of the Rappaport family have ardently supported biomedical research at Massachusetts General Hospital. Through the establishment of an endowment in 1991 to support awards for researchers advancing brain health, followed by early and ongoing support of the MGH Research Scholars program, the foundation has a rich history of encouraging the kind of bold, innovative, lifesaving science that improves the lives of patients. Now, with a gift of $50 million to the Mass General Research Institute, the Rappaport Foundation is cementing its legacy of support for talented scientists, honoring the commitment of its late founder Jerome Lyle Rappaport, known to many as “Jerry,” and positioning the Mass General research community for future success.
The new Rappaport Foundation gift is comprised of three components — an annual team science award designed to promote collaboration, four endowed five-year awards and four endowed chairs, each designed to catalyze the work of bright, bold researchers at different stages of their careers.
“This gift will have an extraordinary impact on biomedical science across Mass General and the Mass General Brigham system by fueling innovative collaboration and accelerating the pace of discovery,” says David F. M. Brown, MD, president of academic medical centers at Mass General Brigham. “In recognizing the Research Institute’s tireless pursuit of groundbreaking scientific achievement, the Rappaport Foundation has again demonstrated its steadfast commitment to empowering emerging leaders and bolstering the kind of high-impact science that will help patients around the world.”
“A Meaningful and Ongoing Impact for Years to Come”
With more than 10,000 researchers working across more than 30 institutes, centers and departments, the Mass General Research Institute is the largest hospital-based research enterprise in the United States. Research Institute scientists work side by side with physicians — in the lab, in the clinic and at patient bedsides — harnessing the latest technological advancements to foster discovery at every stage. Through its visionary structure, the Rappaport Foundation’s gift is designed to take advantage of this unparalleled scientific infrastructure by recognizing and advancing the pioneering efforts of individual Research Institute scientists, while also encouraging and fostering collaboration.
With this gift, the Research Institute will launch the Rappaport MGH Grand Challenge Award, an annual $3 million award designed to encourage the formation of multi-disciplinary teams to tackle some of the most pressing challenges in medicine.
Each year, for a decade, with the help of a team of internal and external experts, the Research Institute will identify priority issues facing human health. Once the Grand Challenge focus area is selected, the Research Institute will solicit team applications, with the winning team receiving a $3 million award to advance their proposal. By building on this proven model, the Rappaport MGH Grand Challenge will bring vital resources to healthcare’s most intractable problems and serve as an inspiration for the entire MGB research community.
In parallel with the Rappaport MGH Grand Challenge Award, the Rappaport Foundation has also given $20 million to two programs aimed at rewarding individual talent and advancing groundbreaking science across the Research Institute.
The Rappaport MGH Research Scholar endowed awards will recognize four promising early- to mid-career scientists, providing $500,000 in unrestricted funding over five years, with new awardees announced every five years. The Rappaport Endowed MGH Research Institute Chairs will honor four senior research scientists who have demonstrated sustained and continuing excellence in their work.
By providing unrestricted funding across the career spectrum, the Rappaport Foundation is helping the Research Institute support and retain top talent, which in turn, improves the institute’s ability to recruit and train the next generation of leaders.
“Rather than tying these awards to a single department, but instead awarding them to outstanding investigators whose work and collaborations cut across all of Mass General’s departments and centers, the Rappaport Foundation has ensured the awards’ impact will be broad, meaningful and ongoing, for years to come,” says Susan A. Slaugenhaupt, PhD, scientific director of the Research Institute, and Elizabeth G. Riley and Daniel E. Smith, Jr. Endowed MGH Research Institute Chair. “This is a profound recognition of the work we undertake, and we are deeply grateful.”
A Shared Belief in the Power of Unrestricted Funding
This multifaceted, transformational gift is the culmination of a decades-long philanthropic partnership between the Rappaport Foundation and Mass General. The Rappaport Foundation was founded in 1997 by Jerry and Phyllis Rappaport to support emerging leaders in public policy, medicine and the arts.
Through its dedication and generosity, the foundation played a key role in helping Mass General pave the way to improving — even revolutionizing — the treatment of neurologic and mental illness. This commitment to driving medical innovation can be traced to Jerry’s experience watching his mother, Cora, succumb to Alzheimer’s disease. It was in Cora’s memory that Jerry and Phyllis made their first donation to support mental health research at Mass General.
For more than twenty years, Phyllis has dedicated her time and effort as a volunteer leader at Mass General — first as a member of the inaugural President’s Council in 2003 and then as a founding member of the Research Institute Advisory Council in 2008. Like her husband, Phyllis was a strong advocate for the power of unrestricted funding, and she played a key role advising hospital leadership in the creation of programs that have since become a hallmark of the Mass General Research Institute.
Jerry died in January 2021, at the age of 94. In recognition of his years of dedication, the role he and the Foundation played in nurturing a multidisciplinary biomedical research community and the continuation of the legacy of scientific advancement, Mass General will be honoring Jerry and the Foundation with an installation that will be displayed at both Mass General’s main campus and the Charlestown Navy Yard research campus.
“Jerry and I have always believed in the power of research to make a positive, powerful and wide-ranging change in the world, and we were confident in Mass General to effect such change,” says Phyllis Rappaport, Foundation co-founder and chair since inception. “The Foundation is pleased to continue this tradition with our new commitment of $50 million to support scientific discovery and researchers.”
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