More than $377,000 Raised for Student Scholarships at MGH Institute of Health Professions’ 35th Anniversary Gala

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MGH Institute of Health Professions celebrated its 35th anniversary in grand fashion at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel on October 25, raising more than $377,000 to fund scholarships for students in nursing, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology who attend the Boston health sciences graduate school.

“With more than 1,200 enrolled students and almost 4,500 graduates, we continue to educate leaders who significantly impact the delivery of health care across the country and around the globe.”

“The scholarships we are able to award each year promote access to a professional education for a broad spectrum of our students who will go on to make exceptional contributions in their fields and touch the lives of many patients, and their families and communities,” President Janis P. Bellack, PhD, RN, FAAN, told the audience.

The final amount included $94,000 pledged by audience members during a live auction.

Since the school’s first Gala in 2007, nearly $2 million has been raised for student scholarships.

Four event sponsors each donated $25,000 to support student scholarships:

• Minute Clinic;
• John Hancock Financial Services;
• Massachusetts General Hospital; and
• Dr. and Mrs. Charles A. Sanders

Five sponsors each donated $10,000: Sumner W. Brown; The Knowles Family; MGH Nurses' Alumnae Association; Putnam Investments; and George and Barbara Thibault.

Gala Honorary Co-Chairs for the event were Mrs. Francis H. Burr and retiring Associate Provost for Academic Affairs Bette Ann Harris '83, DPT, MS, the Institute’s first graduate. Mrs. Burr’s late husband “Hooks” was a Trustee of the Massachusetts General Hospital during the Institute’s founding, and Chair of the MGH board when Dr. Harris graduated from the Institute.

Two members of the MGH Institute Board of Trustees served as co-chairs for the event: Joseph H. “Joe” Knowles, Jr., Executive Director, Institute for Health Metrics whose father, Dr. John Hilton Knowles, was one of the school’s founding visionaries; and Elizabeth “Trish” Joyce, whose father, Dr. Charles A. Sanders, was Managing Director at Massachusetts General Hospital when the Institute was founded in 1977.

“From its inception, the MGH Institute has been on the forefront in educating tomorrow's health care leaders,” said Board of Trustees Chair George Thibault, MD. “With more than 1,200 enrolled students and almost 4,500 graduates, we continue to educate leaders who significantly impact the delivery of health care across the country and around the globe.”

The MGH Institute, a member of Partners HealthCare, is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).