Donor Report – 2026 Fall

Brad’s Update

Feeding the virtuous cycle of curiosity-driven research

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “curiosity?”

For me, I immediately think of a young kid in awe of the things he or she sees in the world, peppering their parents with questions about how things work. Kids are in a constant state of discovery, and for good reason. Curiosity turns them into little learning machines who process information, build memory and draw connections.

A 2021 study of classroom learning found that typical kindergarteners ask more than two dozen questions every hour. For middle schoolers, that number dwindles down to about a few per hour. It’s puzzling why this innate desire tends to get under-expressed with age. Is it our increasing (and misleading) sense of certainty about things? Or a fear of not knowing something we’re supposed to know?

Whatever the answer, it’s an important issue in the world of biomedical research. Of all the outstanding scientists I have ever known, the one common attribute is they continue to ask questions in the same way that little kids do. When they ask a question, it often comes from an unshakeable sense of wonder about the world: “This strange phenomenon fascinates me, and I think research could tell us more.”

At the Morgridge Institute for Research, we value that trait in every single one of our scientists. It’s the foundation of everything we do. It allows us to pursue big, challenging, intractable questions in science that have eluded us for generations, and it allows us to pursue questions whose outcomes are uncertain. It leads to the kind of discoveries that are not expected, and discoveries that dramatically improve our lives.

As esteemed Morgridge Investigator Paul Ahlquist has reminded us: “Science is about what we don’t know.”

Importantly, this is where you are making the biggest impact at Morgridge. We could not be conducting fearless science — our unique brand of curiosity-driven research — without your tremendous support for our scientists. These types of questions take time to get right. They can lead to dead ends or contradictory data that need to be unraveled and decoded. Sometimes they require technology that hasn’t even been created yet. And quite often, they can be deemed by traditional science support frameworks as a bit “too risky” for funding because the outcome can’t be guaranteed ahead of time.

Plainly put, you enable us to take advisable risks into the scientific unknown. Once given the green light, we put everything we have into the challenge: Deep domain expertise, rigorous methods, cutting-edge technology, and relentless collaboration with others, especially our core partners at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Above all, we’re committed to following the data and getting it right — something society rightfully expects from us, and we intend to deliver.

But it all begins with curiosity. And with you.

I am feeling an especially profound gratitude for all of you today, as I near my retirement from Morgridge next spring after 14 amazing years at this remarkable institution. Together, we have built something very special and unique here, one of the most renowned independent biomedical research institutes in the US.

I am pleased to tell you that this legacy of fearless science will be in very accomplished hands with our incoming CEO, Eric Perreault. The Morgridge Board of Trustees chose Eric in August after an exhaustive national search for someone who shares our core values of serving society, following the science wherever it takes us and, together with our UW–Madison, WARF, and national partners, pursuing interdisciplinary discoveries.

In the pages ahead, you can read more about Eric’s impressive academic and research leadership track record at Northwestern University, another Midwestern jewel of research and education.

Let me leave you with another thought about the virtuous cycle of curiosity and progress. You will also read about the 20th anniversary of the Morgridge Summer Science Camp, our signature program for inspiring STEM careers in Wisconsin youth, especially those from rural areas of the state that may have less exposure to the world of research.

One of the first things they see in the lab is a whiteboard with this prompt:

“Ask questions. Be curious. Imagine your future here.”

And that’s how the cycle continues …

My best,

Brad Schwartz, M.D.
Carl Gulbrandsen Chair
Chief Executive Officer
Morgridge Institute for Research