14 Jun Brigham Research Institute Celebrates 10th Anniversary
The Brigham Research Institute capped off a decade of supporting discovery and innovation last week with a celebration honoring its community and accomplishments. At a reception in Cabot Atrium on June 1, members of the research community gathered to share food and drink and hear remarks from the BRI’s past and current directors.
“The BRI was originally conceived of as an experiment,” said Thomas Kupper, MD, chair of the Department of Dermatology and the first director of the BRI. “Today, it is a powerful force of collaboration.”
Kupper highlighted research funding programs, such as the Fund to Sustain Research Excellence (FSRE), which provides interim support to sustain research projects that are likely to receive federal funding in the future. Through the FSRE, the BRI has distributed more than $6 million to 95 investigators. In turn, award recipients have used that to attain more than $200 million in funding.
“I’m proud to have launched the FSRE and to have been on the committee that hired our executive director, Jackie Slavik, PhD,” Kupper said.
In total, the BRI has distributed more than $10 million in awards since 2006 through the FSRE, micro-grants and other competitive funding programs, such as the BRI Director’s $500K Transformative Award, BRIght Futures Fund and BWH Health & Technology Innovation Fund.
Slavik, who has served as executive director since the BRI launched, introduced each of the BRI’s past and present directors, including Kupper, Cynthia Morton, PhD, Joseph Loscalzo, MD, PhD (in absentia), Christine Seidman, PhD, and Richard Blumberg, MD, who highlighted milestones and achievements from their tenure as directors.
During the celebration, attendees were encouraged to submit one-word answers to the question, “What does the BRI mean to you?” By providing this feedback to the BRI, attendees could be entered into a raffle for prizes.
These are the winners of the Tiffany glassware.
Winners of the general raffle: Emma McGuirk and Yanmei Tie, PhD
Winners of the Working Group & Research Oversight Committee members raffle: Karen Costenbader, MD, MPH, Raymond Kwong, MD, MPH and Ajay Wasan, MD, MSc
Winners of the Review Committee or a judge for a poster session raffle: Charlie Serhan, PhD and Jessica Whited, PhD.