Whitehead Institute is a world-renowned non-profit research institution dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical research. 

By cultivating a deeply collaborative culture and enabling the pursuit of bold, creative inquiry, Whitehead fosters paradigm-shifting scientific achievement.

Whitehead Institute was founded by visionary industrialist and philanthropist Edwin C. “Jack” Whitehead, who was driven by a singular vision: to assemble a cadre of the world’s finest biomedical researchers under one roof and eliminate virtually any impediment to their pursuit of scientific discovery. Nobel Laureate David Baltimore was appointed as the Institute’s founding director, and was joined by Founding Members Gerald Fink, Rudolf Jaenisch, Harvey Lodish, and Robert Weinberg. Baltimore served as director until 1990, when he became president of Rockefeller University; in 1997, he became president of California Institute of Technology. He was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1999.