The Bristol-Myers Squibb Corporation will provide a $23.5 million grant to the Harvard School of Public Health, the school announced in a statement yesterday.

The grant--the largest from a private institution in the school's history--will fund five years of research on heart disease.

The research project, scheduled to begin in April, will focus on two major aspects of blood clot formations that often lead to strokes: genetic regulation and the mechanism of the clot formation, the statement said.

Bristol-Myers Squibb, already a leader in cardiovascular therapies, is "looking for improved understanding of causes, prevention and treatment of the artery blockage which causes heart disease and strokes," said Jonathan Weisberg, a spokesperson for the corporation.

Although Harvard will own any discoveries resulting from the research, Bristol-Myers Squibb has the right to license discoveries and inventions for commercialization, according to the school's statement.

The Bristol-Myers Squibb contract, renewable after five years, is another step in the trend toward private funding of research, said Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg '67, dean of the School of Public Health.

Though corporate funding remains less common than government funding, Fineberg said efforts are being made to diversify the resource base of the school, which also receives large government grants for its AIDS research.

"The Bristol-Myers contribution is of a new magnitude," Fineberg said.

A New Director

Bristol-Myers Squibb picked Harvard for of the grant because Dr. Edgar Haber, director of the New Heart Research Laboratory, has strong ties with the University, Weisberg said.

Haber, Elkan R. Blout Professor of Health Sciences and former President of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, has also taught at the Medical School.

"We chose Harvard because of Dr. Haber's decision to return to the academic world in order to continue his long-standing interest in cardiovascular research," Weisberg said.

The School is dedicated to prevention rather than treatment of heart disease, Haber said in the School's press release.

"Dr. Haber's laboratory expands our capability to come to grips with this dominant cause of death in our society," Fineberg said in the press release. ,

"Dr. Haber's efforts will open newpossibilities in the prevention of heart disease,particularly in high-risk individuals," Finebergsaid.

The project's research team will include seniorand junior faculty, fellows and graduate studentsaffiliated with the School