HMS Is Facing a Deficit. Under Trump, Some Fear It May Get Worse.
Harvard Medical School administrators and professors are already worried about the school’s tightening budget and declining federal research funds. Trump’s reelection adds a whole new level of risk.

By Veronica H. Paulus and Akshaya Ravi
17 hours ago


Harvard Medical School's existing financial woes could worsen under Trump's second administration. By Jonathan G. Yuan

Despite its $5 billion endowment from about 1,400 school-specific gifts, Harvard Medical School will run a deficit this year. ... Only slightly more than a quarter of HMS’ operating revenue comes from “endowment income made available for operations,” per the Medical School’s official news publication. ... Of the remaining sources, 38 percent comes from “sponsored support,” 11 percent from “education revenue,” 8 percent from “gifts for current use,” and 15 percent from “other.”

According to an HMS Office of Finance document obtained by The Crimson, “despite the optics of the Medical School’s endowment, HMS’s budget is perpetually underfunded.” ... “Deficit spending is an increasing problem at HMS,” reads the document, which details the school’s deficit spending policy.

At the school’s 2024 State of the School address, HMS Dean George Q. Daley ’82 announced that the school was facing a $37 million shortfall due to “a perfect storm of negative financial headwinds.” ... According to HMS officials, the deficit is the result of National Institute of Health funding not keeping pace with compounding cost inflation, increased labor and construction costs, and poor endowment returns — and with former U.S. President Donald Trump’s reelection, money issues may only worsen.

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HMS professor Jonathan C. Kagan also points to the naturally sinusoidal nature of scientific funding. ... “Funding rates will go up and they’ll go down,” Kagan said, but overall, the work being done at the Medical School and affiliated hospitals “is going to continue.” ... “History usually teaches us that during elections, a lot more extreme optimism or negativity is magnified,” Kagan said. “Change in America occurs at a glacial pace.”

—Staff writer Veronica H. Paulus can be reached at veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @VeronicaHPaulus.

—Staff writer Akshaya Ravi can be reached at akshaya.ravi@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @akshayaravi22.