--- title: "Harvard Says That for $1 Billion, You Can Rename Its Medical School" description: "Got a billion dollars burning a hole in your pocket? Consider: donating it to Harvard Medical School in exchange for naming rights." date: "2023-09-22" modified: "2023-09-22" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/harvard-billion-rename-medical-school" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "billionaires" - "education" - "Harvard" - "the digest" --- # Harvard Says That for $1 Billion, You Can Rename Its Medical School ![Got a billion dollars burning a hole in your pocket? Consider: donating it to Harvard Medical School in exchange for naming rights.]() *(c) www.mitdigitaleoje.dk \Image: Getty Images\* ## Bargain Basement Got a billion dollars burning a hole in your pocket? Harvard's got just the thing. As the Harvard student newspaper [*The Crimson* reports](), The Harvard Corporation — the governing body that prides itself on its status as the "oldest corporation in the Western Hemisphere," according to its website — has put the naming rights to Harvard Medical School up for sale, asking for a wee unrestricted donation of $1 billion in exchange for the go-ahead to slap your moniker of choice on the storied establishment's facade. You know, because [Harvard's endowment]() could really use the extra cash! ## Billion Dollar Boys According to the *Crimson*, Harvard set the price about a decade ago, but this is the first time that the listing has been reported on. And though Harvard declined to comment on its alleged $1 billion price tag, the university's recent sales history would certainly suggest that the school would be more than willing to cash the check. The Ivy League school has been on somewhat of a renaming spree throughout the last decade, beginning back in 2014 when Harvard alumni Gerald L. Chan, the billionaire investor who runs the Morningside investment group with his brother Ronnie, gave an unrestricted $350 million to the university's School of Public Health — the largest in the school's history at the time — and saw the school renamed in his honor. Chan's donation was bested shortly thereafter in 2015, when the billionaire hedge fund founder John A. Paulson coughed up a cool $400 million to claim the name to Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. As the Crimson points out, it wouldn't be the first time a top university raked in a billion-plus dollar cash prize. Last year, venture capitalist John Doerr — who made his fortune investing in little-known companies like Slack, Google, and Amazon — gave [$1.1 billion]() to Stanford's School of Sustainability, while billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated a staggering [$1.8 billion]() to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, saying that he hoped to make the university's admissions process "need-blind" with the sum. In other words, billionaires giving boatloads to their alma mater is nothing new. That said, though, it seems like the HMS offer has been on the table for a while. No offense to Harvard Med, but with a decade-old price tag, perhaps the Western world's oldest corporation might consider moving its hot ticket item to the sale rack? **More on education:** [*Researchers Find That Top Colleges Discriminate Against Low Income Students Even When They're Just as Smart as Rich Ones*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()