As Harvard University faces billions of dollars in federal funding cuts, Harvard Medical School is receiving an influx of donations, according to a
letter
sent by George Q. Daley, Harvard’s Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.
One of its donations, of nearly $19 million, comes from billionaire Len Blavatnik and the Blavatnik Family Foundation. Blavatnik paused donations to Harvard following the testimony of former president Claudine Gay before Congress over antisemitism,
according to CNN
.
The $18.86 million donation is intended to launch the new Blavatnik Institute Early-Career Investigator Awards.
Of those funds, $5.75 million is earmarked for junior faculty awardees.
“Len has been our most generous benefactor, and these funds will make a meaningful difference to our community,” Daley said.
Other donations have also come in, including from 4,000 alumni and other donors over the past year. Seven hundred of those are first-time donors to the medical school in response to the federal government’s actions, Daley said.
The school has fundraised $8 million to support medical and doctoral students and more than $4.4 million for postdoctoral fellows for the upcoming year, he said.
The institution is continuing to fundraise as federal funding dollars aren’t an option and private sources may need to be relied upon more.
“I remain hopeful that Harvard and HMS will regain federal funding. That said, even if we are successful in litigation, the proposed $18 billion cut to the NIH’s FY26 federal budget would still constrain our future, as well as the prospects for all health care organizations, institutions of higher education and academic medical centers,” Daley said.
The letter comes after the institution
announced
to staff that the
hiring freeze it had enacted earlier this year
would continue.
The Trump administration’s actions — such as cuts to research funding and the threat of ending Harvard’s ability to
accept foreign students
—
could cost
the institution $1 billion a year, Harvard administrators said.
The institution has also been impacted by President Donald Trump signing into law the “
Big Beautiful Bill
” which dramatically increased a tax on income from Harvard’s endowment.
“Harvard Medical School will weather this storm, but the current threats to biomedical research will have ripple effects across all of science and health care. The recently passed federal budget reconciliation bill will put extensive pressure on hospital systems and academic programs. Sadly, it will ultimately be patients and public health that will suffer,” Daley said.
