MGH Institute of Health Professions Breaks Fundraising Record at Annual Gala

(In photo: Putnam Investments President and CEO and Gala Honorary Co-Chair Bob Reynolds, WCVB anchor and Gala emcee Heather Unruh, MGH Institute President Jan Bellack, MGH Institute Chair Dr. George Thibault, Massachusetts General Hospital President and Honorary Co-Chair Dr. Peter Slavin, and Partners HealthCare President Dr. David Torchiana at the MGH Institute’s 9th Gala.)

MGH Institute of Health Professions set a new fundraising record at its 9th annual Gala, raising $440,105 on October 27.

Approximately 250 people attended the event, held at the Boston Renaissance Hotel. The night’s theme, “Local Impact, Global Reach,” featured videos that highlighted the contributions of people from the MGH Institute community:

• New England Patriot great Tedy Bruschi on physical therapy Assistant Professor Ann McCarthy Jacobson ’99, ‘02, who as Bruschi’s PT helped him to return to the team just eight months after having a stroke in 2005;
• Partners In Health president and co-founder Dr. Paul Farmer, on the role of Sheila Davis ’97, ’08 as the non-profit’s chief of Ebola response during the 2014 epidemic in West Africa; and
• Sylvia Stevens-Edouard, executive director of the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, on what occupational therapy student Hayley Younkin ’17 is currently doing as a Schweitzer Fellow to address the mental health needs and social-emotional wellbeing of children at St. Mary’s Bridge Home in Dorchester.

“The mission of the MGH Institute to educate the best health care leaders continues to resonate with people,” said President Janis P. Bellack. “What sets the IHP apart is what goes on in our classrooms, labs, and clinical settings. Students learn with, from, and about each other through these experiences. They learn to be leaders. And they learn from faculty and practitioners who are leaders in their respective fields, leaders who bring the best of their knowledge and expertise to benefit our students.”

Heather Unruh, anchor for WCVB-TV, was the event’s MC which she discussed on the station’s 11 p.m. newscast that evening.

Honorary co-chairs were Bob Reynolds, president and CEO of Putnam Investments, and Dr. Peter Slavin, president of Massachusetts General Hospital. MGH Institute Trustee Peter D’Arrigo, president of D’Arrigo Bros. Co., chaired the Gala Committee.

Proceeds from the Gala fund scholarships for students in nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, and speech-language pathology who attend Boston’s health sciences graduate school, which is located in the Charlestown Navy Yard. More than $3 million has been raised since the first Gala in 2007. The Institute awarded more than $5.4 million in aid to students during 2015-2016 academic year.

Putnam Investments was the lead sponsor, donating $50,000. Five individuals or companies donated $25,000: Sumner Brown, Bill and Kristi Geary, Massachusetts General Hospital, MinuteClinic, and Dr. and Mrs. Charles A. Sanders.

“All of us are going to need the care of these vital health professionals at one time or other in our lives. We also need them to help improve our systems of health care and assure that all those in need of care are able to receive it no matter where or in what circumstances they find themselves,” Reynolds told the audience. “Let’s make sure there will be a future Hayley or Sheila or Anne ‘there to care’.”