Building the Infrastructure to Nurture Basic and Therapeutic Science

Newswise — Swiss biotech executive, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Ernesto Bertarelli has pledged $75 million through the Bertarelli Foundation to advance basic scientific discovery, therapeutic science, and a culture of entrepreneurship at Harvard Medical School. The gift will set in motion plans to transform the outdoor courtyard of Building C into an expansive, skylighted atrium that will serve as convening and collaboration space for occupants of the building as well as the broader HMS community.

In recognition of this gift, Building C — the last remaining unnamed building on the School’s iconic quadrangle in the heart of Boston’s Longwood Medical Area (LMA) — will be named the Bertarelli Building following completion of the atrium’s construction.

“Ernesto Bertarelli is an ardent supporter of both fundamental and translational research at Harvard Medical School,” said HMS Dean George Q. Daley. “He understands that in order to improve the health and well-being of patients, we must first support observations in the lab and then nurture and orient them toward interventions in the clinic. It is therefore fitting that the Bertarelli name will be inscribed in the marble of the building that personifies our commitment to both basic and therapeutic science.”

In addition to housing the Departments of Cell Biology and of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, the building serves as a hub for the HMS Therapeutics Initiative, which aims to advance therapeutics research, accelerate translation of discoveries into medicines, and educate and train the inventors of future medicines.

It is also home to the recently opened Blavatnik Harvard Life Lab Longwood, a centerpiece of the Therapeutics Initiative that provides collaborative workspaces for early-stage, high-potential biotech and life sciences startups founded by Harvard students, alumni, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty.

The planned atrium project, anticipated to begin in 2023 and be completed in 2025, includes enclosing the building’s existing outdoor courtyard, situated between the wet lab and dry lab arms of the Blavatnik Life Lab. The Building C facade was recently restored and will be preserved, and the new spaces housed within the atrium will be integrated into HMS’ historic campus fabric.

“The Therapeutics Initiative is working to address the impediments that can hinder an idea in the lab from progressing toward a medicine,” said Mark Namchuk, executive director of therapeutics translation at HMS. “A critical component to transiting that science is building the infrastructure where both basic and translational science can be supported, and Ernesto Bertarelli is doing just that with his generous gift.”

Built in 1906, Building C is one of five marble-faced buildings — originally named A, B, C, D, and E — that form HMS’ iconic quadrangle. At that time, the combination of a new medical school and empty land in the Fenway drew hospitals to the neighborhood now known as the LMA.

Today, the LMA is a thriving and dynamic community of medical, academic, research, and cultural organizations — including several HMS-affiliated hospitals and research institutes — that combine to create a powerful economic engine for the city and the state.

“The combination of breakthrough science and empowering partnerships, like the one with Mr. Bertarelli, that animates the LMA is nothing short of inspiring,” said Harvard President-elect Claudine Gay. “You can feel the future of human health taking shape around you.”

“Harvard Medical School is a world leader in health care innovation, translational research, and cutting-edge discovery, and it continues to have an immense impact on the health and well-being of humankind,” said Bertarelli. “It has been my honor to have been a partner of the School for over two decades, and I am delighted to continue to support the HMS community in its important work by helping to modernize these landmark facilities to keep pace with therapeutics innovation.”

Bertarelli is a former biotechnology executive and an entrepreneur active in the fields of business, finance, sport, and philanthropy. He is currently chairman of the private investment firm B-FLEXION, formerly Waypoint Capital. Born in Rome, he is a graduate of Babson College and Harvard Business School, where he earned his MBA in 1993.

This gift is the latest in more than a decade of support to HMS, HBS, and the University from the Bertarelli family. Their generosity has established the Bertarelli Program in Translational Neuroscience and Neuroengineering, established in 2010 to bridge the gap between basic and translational neuroscience and culminating in a symposium held in October 2022; the endowed Bertarelli Professorship in Translational Medical Science, held by David Corey; and the Bertarelli Rare Cancers Fund, established in 2019 by Dona Bertarelli, Ernesto’s sister.

Current chair of the HMS Board of Fellows, Bertarelli has been a trusted and valued advisor to Daley and the School. He is also a staunch University citizen, having given generously to HBS and serving on its Board of Dean’s Advisors.

“I am honored that the Bertarelli name will become a permanent and prominent part of the medical school’s quadrangle,” said Harvard University President Larry Bacow. “Ernesto is a great friend of Harvard and to me personally. His ambitious vision is exceeded only by his unwavering support. Harvard is all the better for both.”