Brown receives $27M from Alpert Foundation to expand physician-scientist program, create professorship

A $27 million gift from The Warren Alpert Foundation will expand the M.D./Ph.D. program at Brown University and endow the first professorship in the Brown Institute for Translational Science. / COURTESY BROWN UNIVERSITY/SCOTT KINGSLEY
A $27 million gift from The Warren Alpert Foundation will expand the M.D./Ph.D. program at Brown University and endow the first professorship in the Brown Institute for Translational Science. / COURTESY BROWN UNIVERSITY/SCOTT KINGSLEY

PROVIDENCE – A $27 million gift to Brown University from The Warren Alpert Foundation will allow the university to expand its M.D./Ph.D. program for physician-scientists by more than tripling funding for it, and endow a professorship in the Brown Institute for Translational Science.
The gift, announced Monday, will enhance the university’s efforts to improve health, according to a press release from Brown.
Brown said it wants to train the “next generation of leaders” in medicine and science by bringing together researchers, clinicians and other scholars from different fields to turn scientific discoveries into medical breakthroughs.
“The Warren Alpert Medical School has earned an international reputation for its student-focused approach to medical education, and with this generous gift, The Warren Alpert Foundation is investing in people and programs at Brown that can make a profound impact on the future of health care,” Brown University President Christina H. Paxson said in a statement.
Nine years ago, a $100 million gift from the foundation helped build The Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown; it opened in 2011.
Said Bevin Kaplan, director and vice president of The Warren Alpert Foundation, “In the beginning, it was hard to see beyond the impact of the physicality of the new space that our gift afforded. Now we have the privilege of seeing how the gift has also affected the quality of the student experience at the Warren Alpert Medical School, the recruitment of dynamic faculty and the far-reaching potential for current research.”
Of the total gift, $22 million will create the endowed Warren Alpert Physician-Scientist M.D./Ph.D. and Advanced Training Program. This will offer more students the opportunity to pursue a joint M.D./Ph.D. degree by offering tuition assistance and research stipends, the release said.
The remaining $5 million will establish the Warren Alpert Professorship as the first endowed professorship in the Brown Institute for Translational Science, which was established last year. The institute organizes researchers into integrated teams to make breakthroughs on specific diseases and other medical challenges.

No posts to display