BOSTON — Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a founding member of Mass General Brigham, has received a revolutionary gift of $50 million from Robert K. Kraft and The Kraft Family Foundation to address healthcare disparities caused by race, ethnicity, geography, and economic status. The gift is the largest in support of community health and health equity in the history of MGH and more than doubles the previous commitments of the Kraft family to ensuring the highest quality equitable health care is available in all the communities served by the MGH.
“On behalf of the hospital, I would like to express our profound gratitude to the Kraft family for this transformative and inspirational act of philanthropy, which is not only the largest of its kind in our history, but also the latest highlight of their already lengthy history of support for MGH,” said David F. M. Brown, MD, president of MGH. “We are committed to serving our communities and this incredibly generous gift positions MGH to help even more patients in need of our care.”
The Kraft family’s gift will support a permanent Robert K. Kraft Endowed Chair in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion addressing health disparities in clinical care at MGH and can be replicated beyond hospital walls.
The chair will be held by the medical director of the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Center at MGH. Research into sickle cell disease (SCD), a serious genetic blood disorder primarily impacting African Americans (as well as Latinos of Caribbean ancestry, and people of Middle Eastern or Indian Subcontinent descent), is historically underfunded, leading to inequitable access to appropriate care for this debilitating, painful disease.
“By creating an endowed position focused on addressing clinical health care disparities, Robert Kraft and the Kraft family are creating important pathways for patients living with sickle cell disease to receive comprehensive medical care which has not traditionally been available…
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