Medical School Receives Grant of Million Dollars

The Medical School has received a $1,000,000 grant in unrestricted funds from the Commonwealth Fund, it was announced last night.

The grant, yesterday termed "a milestone in recent foundation giving to medical education" by President Pusey, was part of the Fund's $7,500,000 distribution to ten of the nation's medical schools. The amount was drawn from the foundation's capital fund.

"This grant of unrestricted funds," Medical Dean Dr. George P. Berry explained yesterday, "points the way to a cure from an academic ill which has beset all privately endowed medical schools--that of project-itis."

Pusey said the money "will be used to improve medical education and training in the basic medical sciences."

$2 Million Awarded This Year

Usually the foundation only issues specific grants from its annual income. In 1955, it awarded over $2,000,000 for various projects in medical education and research.

The remainder of the foundation's capital fund grants were divided among Western Reserve, which also received, $1,000,000, Columbia, Cornell, Yale, Tulane, and New York University all of which were given $750,000, and Emory, Chicago, and Southern California, which received grants amounting from $300,000 to $600,000.

The Commonwealth Fund was established in 1918 by Mrs. Stephen V. Harkness "to do something for the benefit of mankind." Recently the foundation's grants have been used in medical research and community health projects.

Dean Berry yesterday commented that Fund support has already been responsible for many valuable contributions in research work at the School.

Sponsored Cell Project

This support has included sponsorship of the work in cell metabolism of Dr. Fritz Lipmann, professor of Biological Chemistry, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1953.

Recent annual grants have been used by the Medical School to further experiments designed to test new educational plans.

This year's gift to the School, President Pusey added last night, "will bring great encouragement to all people interested in the improvement of medical education. Let us hope that the action of the Commonwealth Fund in supplying unrestricted monies from its capital, may signalize the opening of a new trend in foundation giving in the field of medical education."