In 1990, The Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research (WICGR) was founded. The institute soon became an international leader in the field of genomics and a flagship of the Human Genome Project.

As early as 1995, WICGR scientists recognized the need to bring the power of genomics to the understanding of human disease. It launched pilot projects in genomic medicine, forming an unofficial collaborative network among scientists from across MIT and Harvard who pioneered new approaches to cancer and human genetics.