In her youth, Olive Macdougall could usually be found driving her canary yellow convertible around her hometown of Chatham, Massachusetts, or caring for patients and educating trainees as a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital. Later in life, Olive was most often found apron-clad in the kitchen of her home in Haverhill, Massachusetts, cooking for her loved ones and asking them, “What do you need?” — a question she uttered on a daily basis.
Olive passed away in 2021, but her friend, advisor and attorney Richard Sheehan remembers her as an adventure seeker who once landed a plane on the beach in Chatham in front of her disapproving father; and, above all, as a person who was generous to the core, whose priority in her life was to help others.
Before she died, Olive left a provision for one last gift — one that ensured she could continue helping people for years to come. Rather than spend the consequential wealth she had inherited from her late husband on herself, Olive chose to make a $6 million provision in her trust to research at Mass General. That gift is now being used to support female researchers, like Karin Gustafsson, PhD, a Mass General Brigham immunologist. Olive became a nurse because it was the path into science and medicine available to her at the time. Today, her legacy lives on in the way her generosity continues to open doors for women in medicine at Mass General — doors that were closed to her decades ago.
A Lasting Impact
Women in medicine frequently face gender-based inequity in funding and support. David Scadden, MD, director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Mass General, who knew Olive, is helping to ensure that her gift supports female researchers and post-doctoral fellows when they need it most.
“For researchers conducting high-risk research — especially women balancing family demands and their work — funding is often limited in both availability and duration,” says Dr. Scadden. “This gift has allowed many of our scientists to continue to work on important projects that don’t necessarily fall into the traditional timeline and parameters for a research fellow.”
“Starting a family can heavily impact a woman’s research career, limiting her ability to secure funding and access resources,” says Dr. Gustafsson. “Philanthropic funding can help combat this issue and enable researchers to pursue projects there may otherwise be no financial support for.”
Dr. Gustafsson works in the Scadden Laboratory, conducting research in the areas of immunology and hematology, specifically and most recently conducting a study on the positive impact of the thymus on health outcomes.
“Thanks to this funding from Olive, I’ve been able to be a part of a project that has already directly impacted patients — a rare treat for a ‘basic scientist,’” Dr. Gustafsson says. “Olive’s gift, in tandem with the incredibly unique Mass General Brigham ecosystem, where you will find world-leading experts down the hall or one floor up from you at all times, has made this exciting research possible.”
To learn more about how you can name Mass General in your estate plans and create a legacy to advance medicine, please contact Kathleen Duffy in the Office of Gift Planning at mghdevpg@mgh.harvard.edu or 617.643.2220.
