Mr. Wyss’ passion for innovation and discovery runs throughout his philanthropy.
As part of its work to expand economic opportunity, empower communities, and build the next generation of leaders, the Wyss Foundation supports groundbreaking research to shift paradigms, bridge divisions, and solve some of our world’s most pressing problems. The Foundation has committed resources to support education and training, the arts, and medical exploration.
Education and the Arts
Mr. Wyss’ philanthropy provides scholarships and fellowships in conservation, music, medicine, business and the arts at institutions around the world, including in Africa, Europe, and the United States. With a 2004 donation from Mr. Wyss, the Harvard Business School created the Wyss Doctoral Endowment program that provides awards for innovative dissertation research, fellowships for doctoral students, field research, and course development.
Mr. Wyss supported the development of environmental management cases for Harvard’s MBA Program and was integral to the development of its social enterprise program. His significant contributions to the Beyeler Foundation have helped conserve and display some of the world’s most important pieces of modern art.
Medicine
Building on the contributions of his company, Synthes Inc., to trauma medicine, Mr. Wyss’ philanthropy has helped researchers and surgeons develop and apply ground-breaking new technologies to help patients recover from musculoskeletal injuries. In 2008, he established the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University
Mr. Wyss has also established endowed chairs in medicine and supports research, education, training at a wide range of universities and hospitals, including Clemson University, the University of Washington, the University of Mississippi, the University of Maryland, the University of South Alabama, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Mr. Wyss helped establish the AO Foundation, a medically guided nonprofit led by an international group of surgeons who specialize in the treatment of trauma and disorders of the musculoskeletal system.
LATEST DISCOVERY NEWS
Focus On
Wyss Institute at Harvard
Since 2008, Mr. Wyss has donated $250 million to establish the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. With this support, faculty from engineering, medicine, biology, and the physical sciences have been working across disciplines to develop biologically inspired materials and devices that will solve critical medical and environmental problems. Wyss researchers study and use Nature's principles for self-organizing and self-regulating to pursue transformative technological breakthroughs. These technologies are translated into commercial products and therapies through collaborations with clinical investigators, corporate alliances, and new start-ups.
