About Hereditary Disease Foundation
Hereditary Disease Foundation centers its grantmaking on Huntington’s disease research, with funding that reaches from early-stage preliminary data collection to major collaborative projects. In the recent grants list, its largest award went to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for $1,150,000 in 2024, and another seven-figure grant went to Massachusetts General Hospital for $1,105,262 that same year. The foundation also backed Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis with $1,104,000 in 2025, showing that it supports work at a substantial scale as well as across multiple institutions.
The recent awards point to a research funder that mixes project grants with career development and recognition. It gives one-year Research Grants, two-year Postdoctoral Fellowships, and larger Transformative Research Awards, while also sponsoring annual prizes for scientific work in Huntington’s disease. Recipients include Stanford University, the University of California Irvine, Northwestern University, Columbia University, and the J. David Gladstone Institutes. That mix suggests a portfolio aimed at both the next experiment and the next stage of a researcher’s career.
What Hereditary Disease Foundation Funds
The foundation’s strongest throughline is Huntington’s disease research, but its grants show several scientific angles within that focus. At Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it gave $223,328 in 2024 and another $185,828 in 2023, indicating repeated support for work there. It also awarded $100,000 in 2025 to the Center for Genomic Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Therapeutic development is another clear emphasis. The Regents of the University of California, San Diego received $100,000 in 2025, and The Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles received $100,000 in 2025 as well, both within the foundation’s scientific research portfolio. In California, Stanford University appears in the recent grants list with $205,656 in 2024 and $177,837 in 2023, alongside a later $175,672 award to The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford in 2025.
The foundation also backs work at the intersection of biomarkers, mechanisms, and translational research through awards to hospitals, universities, and biomedical institutes.
How Hereditary Disease Foundation Gives
Hereditary Disease Foundation’s typical grant size falls in a mid-six-figure range, with p25 at $75,000, a median of $100,000, and p75 at $185,828. The recent grants list shows both larger project awards and standard $100,000 grants, with one-year Research Grants, two-year Postdoctoral Fellowships, and Transformative Research Awards among its program types. The foundation accepts unsolicited applications for several programs, including Research Grants and postdoctoral support, using a competitive research-funding model. Recent awards span 2023 through 2025, which points to recurring support rather than one-off giving.
