News Room

The Institute has committed approximately $150 million to the 15 researchers for their first term of appointment. "These 15 physician-scientists are changing the way we think about and treat a variety of diseases," said HHMI President Thomas R. Cech. Despite the potential benefit that can come from nurturing the careers of physician-scientists, there is abundant anecdotal evidence that the number of them pursuing careers in patient-oriented research is declining in the United States, he said.

The two new HHMI investigators from Children's are:

Elizabeth Engle, MD

Daley and Engle join 10 other researchers at Children's Hospital Boston who have HHMI appointments. They and the other 13 new HHMI investigators, from 12 other institutions across the country, were selected in a nationwide competition seeking researchers who lead patient-oriented research programs and whose scientific work is guided by their interaction with patients. These physician-scientists spend their professional lives crossing the boundaries between the laboratory bench and the bedside, convinced that patient care informs and enhances their research.

• Have an MD or MD/PhD degree or the equivalent
• Have a current license to practice medicine in the United States
• Be a tenured or tenure-track (or equivalent) faculty member at one of the 121 eligible host institutions on the date of submission of the application
• Have between four and 16 years of experience as an independent investigator
• Be engaged in the conduct of patient-oriented research
• Be the principal investigator on a funded NIH R01 grant or a project leader on a NIH P01 grant

HHMI enters into long-term collaboration agreements with universities and other academic research organizations, where its investigators hold faculty appointments. Under these agreements, HHMI investigators, who are directly employed by the Institute, and their research teams carry out their research in HHMI laboratories located on various campuses. Through its flagship investigator program, HHMI has joined with more than 60 distinguished U.S. universities, hospitals, institutes, and medical schools to create an environment that provides flexible, long-term support for 291 Hughes scientists and members of their research teams.

Children's Hospital Boston is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 500 scientists, including eight members of the National Academy of Sciences, 11 members of the Institute of Medicine and 12 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Children's Hospital Boston today is a 377-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. Children's also is the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information about the hospital and its research visit: www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a non-profit medical research organization that ranks as one of the nation's largest philanthropies, plays a powerful role in advancing biomedical research and science education in the United States. In the past two decades HHMI has made investments of more than $8.3 billion for the support, training, and education of the nation's most creative and promising scientists.

HHMI's principal mission is conducting basic biomedical research, which it carries out in collaboration with more than 60 universities, medical centers and other research institutions throughout the United States. 291 HHMI investigators, along with a scientific staff of 2,200, work at these institutions in Hughes laboratories. The Institute's scientific research expenditures at the close of fiscal year 2007 totaled $613 million. HHMI grants totaled $86 million at the close of fiscal year 2007. The Institute's philanthropic grants program emphasizes initiatives with the power to transform graduate and undergraduate education in the life sciences. It also supports the work of biomedical researchers in many countries around the globe. Through aggregate investments of more than $1.2 billion, the Institute has sought to reinvigorate life science education at both research universities and liberal arts colleges and to engage the nation's leading scientists in teaching.

At the end of its 2007 fiscal year, HHMI had an endowment of $18.7 billion. Its headquarters are located in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.