$29 million latest gift to university from Kimberly K. Querrey raises her giving to school to over $391 million to date

Northwestern University announced that trustee and longtime benefactor Kimberly K. Querrey has made a $29 million gift to launch a new biomedical research institute designed to accelerate the path from academic discovery to real-world medical technology.

The Querrey-Simpson Institute for Translational Engineering for Advanced Medical Systems will serve as a bridge between laboratory breakthroughs and clinical testing, offering researchers a more direct route to see their innovations reach patients.

For Querrey, the donation marks the latest step in a years-long commitment to reshaping the landscape of biomedical research at Northwestern and across the country.

Colleagues at the university often describe her as a donor who not only writes transformative checks but also pushes scientists to think ambitiously about how their work can directly improve human health.

Her gifts repeatedly focus on fields where a strategic infusion of resources can dramatically shorten the timeline between scientific insight and medical impact.

The new institute, known as QSI-TEAMS, will grow out of the work already underway at the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics, founded in 2016 and widely recognized for pioneering soft, flexible, and implantable medical devices.

That institute has generated more than 150 disclosed inventions and brings together faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and students across disciplines. Its director, McCormick Prof. John Rogers—whose team designed the world’s smallest pacemaker, recently named one of Time magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2025”—will also lead the new initiative.

The university sees his track record of turning bold engineering ideas into clinically viable products as central to QSI-TEAMS’ mission.

Querrey’s influence on Northwestern’s scientific enterprise has grown steadily since the early 2010s, but the scale of her support has increased sharply recently.

In 2022, she and the Louis Simpson Trust—named for her late husband, a former University trustee and noted investor—donated $121 million to Northwestern, one of the largest gifts in its history.

That same year, the Kimberly Prize in Biochemistry was launched at a new epigenetics center carrying her name.

At $250,000, it is the largest biochemistry honor awarded in the United States, reflecting her belief that substantial recognition can accelerate both careers and discovery.

Friends and colleagues say Querrey approaches philanthropy with the mindset of a long-term partner rather than a distant benefactor.

Her involvement often extends beyond funding, with sustained interest in the scientific vision behind each project she supports.

University officials credit her with encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration and creating an environment where high-risk, high-reward ideas can attract the backing they need to flourish.

The launch of QSI-TEAMS represents what many at Northwestern view as the next evolution of her impact: a system designed not just to generate groundbreaking medical technologies but to ensure they successfully navigate the complex pathway toward patient care.

For Querrey, the latest gift reinforces her belief that universities can—and should—serve as engines for practical innovation at a moment when biomedical engineering is rapidly transforming the possibilities for diagnosis, treatment, and human health itself.