Howard Hughes' Gift to Harvard

Three years ago, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a foundation established by the late billionaire, announced that it would open a major research laboratory in the Affiliated Hospital Center (AHC), a complex of three Harvard teaching hospitals in Boston. AHC has since changed its name to Brigham and Woman's Hospital, and has to embarked on an ambitious expansion plan. But the Hughes laboratory has not yet materialized.

"We knew at the time that construction was not imminent, but the press got a hold of the story and ran it," Jim King, Assistant Vice President for Corporate Communications at Brigham and Women's, said this week.

King explained that the research facility will be in the third building of Brigham and Women's new medical complex in Boston's Backbay. So far, the complex consists only of a central hospital tower, although an adjacent ambulatory building is slated for completion next summer. Only then will ground be broken for the research building, which will house the Hughes Institute and other laboratories.

The hospital's collaboration with the Hughes Institute has stirred controversy because the Institute owns Hughes Aircraft Co., one of the largest defense contractors in the United States, with annual profits exceeding $60 million.

Each year, a portion of Hughes Aircraft's profits must go to the medical institute to maintain its special tax status. Recently, that portion has been growing because of changes in federal tax laws.

In the early '70s, the institute received about $3 million a year. In 1976, it got $16 million, and in 1979, about $20 million. Spokesmen for the institute decline to say how much money they will eventually pour into the laboratory at Brigham and Women's Hospital, but estimates range as high as $50 million a year.

Since its inception in 1953, the Institute has worked closely with a Harvard teaching hospital, Peter Bent Brigham, which is now (along with Robert Breck Brigham Hospital and Boston Hospital for Women) the Brigham and Women's Hospital.

The Institute currently funds about 60 researchers at 11 university hospitals around the country. Eight of the researchers are on the Harvard Medical School faculty.

Dr. George F. Cahill, Professor of Medicine at Harvard and director of medical research at the Institute, said the idea for the research laboratory originated about 20 years ago. He added that the project will be the "flagship" for similar facilities to be built at the ten other universities affiliated with the Institute.

Financing for the new building will come from both Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Institute. "In effect, what we are doing is taking out a long-term lease up front, in order to give Brigham and Women's some of the capital they need for construction," Cahill said.

He declined to say how much the long-term lease will be, because plans for the structure are not complete, and its final cost is not known. Various plans for the building range from eight to 15 stories.

Research at the new facility will be in four major areas: genetics, immunology, endocrinology, and metabolism. "This has been our focus all along at the Institute," Cahill said, adding, "There is a lot of work to be done in those fields, and we plan to continue."

In recent years, the Institute has been the subject of intense speculation in newspapers and among researchers. Prior to Hughes' death in 1976, almost nothing was known about it. Since then, however, the veil of mystery has begun to slip. It appears that in the 1950's, Hughes conceived the idea of a center for medical research where elite researchers could gather to pursue medical advances. He later revised his plan and decided to finance individual researchers already affiliated with universities. In this manner, funds from the Hughes Institute could go directly to research instead of building and equipment maintenance.

However, some researchers allege that the shift in Hughes' plans was a tax dodge. In fact, Cahill admitted that the Institute's status as an educational, non-profit organization is not secure. "Right now, we are considered an institute," he said. "But it's a year to year thing, and the IRS could change its mind any time"

In addition, rumors about links between the Institute and the CIA have reportedly kept some researchers from accepting funds from the Institute. According to the New York Times, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence raised the issue in May 1976 by questioning "possible connections between the CIA, the Hughes Institute and selected medical schools," but no links have ever been found.

"Obviously Hughes Aircraft works with the CIA," Cahill said. "However, we keep the Institute entirely separate from the Hughes business operations. These allegations only make me laugh--what could the CIA possibly want from us?"