Construction on HMS Building C Begins After $75 Million Donation

Construction is underway on Harvard Medical School’s Building C following a $75 million gift from Ernesto S.M. Bertarelli. The renovation project will modernize the 119-year-old building, which is one of five historic marble buildings that form the HMS quadrangle.

Bertarelli, a Harvard Business School alumnus and former CEO of Swiss biotech company Serono, has consistently donated to HMS and HBS through his family organization, the Bertarelli Foundation.

In a statement, HMS spokesperson Dennis Nealon wrote that Bertarelli is a “longtime Harvard Medical School friend and supporter.”

Building C currently houses the Department of Cell Biology and the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology and also serves as a hub for the HMS Therapeutics Initiative.

Renovations are set to update the Cannon lecture hall as well as common spaces and building systems in the surrounding area. Most notably, however, the renovations will refurbish an existing courtyard, transforming it into a new atrium.

“The outdoor courtyard of Building C will be transformed into an expansive, skylighted atrium that will serve as convening and collaboration space for the West Quad and the broader Harvard Medical School (HMS) community,” Nealon wrote.

According to Nealon, renovations began this month and are expected to be completed in October 2026. While an earlier timeline set a target finish date in 2025, the plan was later updated after the architectural firm and general contractor were engaged and a start date was set.

“The new spaces housed within the atrium will be integrated into HMS’ historic campus fabric,” Nealon wrote.

Building C’s structure, however, is not the only thing set to change.

“In recognition of this commitment from the Bertarelli family, Building C, which was constructed in 1906, will be named the Bertarelli Building after completion of construction,” Nealon wrote.

This will make Building C the last of five historic buildings in the HMS Quadrangle to be named after a donor. The other four buildings are named after donors, including cerebral palsy advocates Isabelle and Leonard H. Goldenson, Class of 1927, and Ellen R. and Melvin J. Gordon ’41— the president and CEO of Tootsie Roll Industries, respectively.

In a press release published by HMS, Dean George Q. Daley praised Bertarelli’s generosity, emphasizing his contributions’ alignment with the school’s goals of bridging basic science and therapeutic application.

“Ernesto Bertarelli is an ardent supporter of both fundamental and translational research at HMS. He understands that in order to improve the health and well-being of patients, we must first support observations in the lab and then nurture and orient them toward interventions in the clinic,” Daley said in the release.

“It is therefore fitting that the Bertarelli name will be inscribed in the marble of the building that personifies our commitment to both basic and therapeutic science,” he added.

—Staff writer Bianca A. Ciubancan can be reached at bianca.ciubancan@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Mohan A. Hathi can be reached at mohan.hathi@thecrimson.com.