Whitehead Institute

History

Whitehead Institute was founded in 1982 by industrialist and philanthropist Edwin C. “Jack” Whitehead (1920–1992), who sought to establish a research institute "dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical science". Whitehead believed that while such an institution should be closely affiliated with an academic institution, it should remain wholly independent and self-governing. In David Baltimore (1975 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine), Whitehead found a partner who agreed that this approach would create an "optimum environment for basic research". As Whitehead Institute's founding directors, Baltimore handpicked Harvey Lodish, and Robert Weinberg from MIT, Gerald Fink from Cornell University, and Rudolf Jaenisch from University of Hamburg, Germany, to be Whitehead Institute's founders. This group then identified promising younger scientists to be the first generation of Whitehead members; and they established the Whitehead Fellows Program as a vehicle for accelerating the careers of highly promising young investigators.

Less than a decade after its founding, the Institute for Scientific Information in Philadelphia identified Whitehead as the top research institution in the world in molecular biology and genetics, based on the impact of its scientific publications. Whitehead Institute's Center for Genome Research (CGR) became the single largest contributor to the Human Genome Project, and reportedly contributed one-third of the human genome sequence announced in June 2000.

In 2004 the CGR formed the independent Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, of which then-Whitehead Member Eric Lander was named Founding Director and President.

Whitehead Institute's influence continues - over a 10-year period, papers published by Whitehead scientists had more impact in molecular biology and genetics than those from any of the 15 leading research universities and life sciences institutes in the United States. Training and education is integral to Whitehead Institute's mission and approximately 300 undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and visiting scientists are integrally engaged in its research programs. Four times since 2009, the Whitehead Institute has been ranked first as the Best Place to Work for Postdocs in USA by The Scientist magazine.

Today, Whitehead scientists run research programs in cancer biology, developmental biology, genetics and genomics, metabolism, neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative disease, and regenerative medicine. In addition, numerous biotech companies have been launched by Whitehead Members or based on intellectual property developed at the institute, such as Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi Genzyme, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Rubius Therapeutics, and Verastem.

In 2019, according to the NACUBO report, the institute had an endowment of $527.9 million.