Harvard University provost Alan Garber, MD, PhD, has been appointed interim president of the Cambridge, Mass.-based institution following the resignation of Claudine Gay, PhD.
The Harvard Corporation announced the appointment in a Jan. 2 letter. Dr. Garber has served as the university's provost and chief academic officer for 12 years, in addition to holding a variety of faculty positions, the Harvard Crimson reported Jan. 3.
Dr. Garber, who is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians and the National Academy of Medicine, holds faculty positions as the Mallinckrodt Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and as a professor of health policy and management in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
An economist as well as a physician, Dr. Garber is also an economics professor in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences and public policy professor in the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Dr. Gay, who served as president for just over six months and made history as the first Black person and second woman to hold the position, wrote in her Jan. 2 resignation letter that "after consultation with members of the Corporation, it has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual."
Read more about Dr. Gay's resignation here.