ABSTRACT
Prior to 1950 medical research was supported almost entirely from private or commercial philanthropy. Among private foundations were The Medical Board of the Rockefeller Foundation directed by Dr. Alan Gregg, a man of extraordinary intellectual cultivation, insight and judgment. With full authority to approve grants, he traveled to research laboratories throughout the United States, the British Isles and Commonwealth, and Europe, met personally with the investigators and witnessed their work. He promised support to those who passed muster and, as he left their laboratories, he would say, “Don’t send me any reports. Send me the reprints.” Several other major foundations that supported research in American universities at that time also operated in a personal and nonbureaucratic fashion. Among them were the R.H. Macy Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund, the John A. Hartford Foundation, Inc., Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, Inc., the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation, Inc., and the Pew Memorial Trust.
