Sally Kornbluth

American microbiologist and academic administrator

Sally Kornbluth

Kornbluth in 2023

18th President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Incumbent

Assumed office
January 1, 2023
Preceded by| Leo Rafael Reif
Provost of Duke University
In office
July 1, 2014 – December 31, 2022
Preceded by| Peter Lange
Succeeded by| Jennifer Francis (interim)
Personal details
Born|

Sally Ann Kornbluth

Education| Williams College (BA)
Emmanuel College, Cambridge (BS)
Rockefeller University (PhD)
Scientific career
Fields| Cellular biology
Institutions| Duke University
Duke Kunshan University
Thesis| Modulation of Cellular src family Tyrosine Kinases: Phosphorylation State and Polyomavirus Middle T Antigen Binding (1989)
Doctoral advisor| Hidesaburo Hanafusa
Other academic advisors| John Newport
Doctoral students| Daniel Colón-Ramos

Sally Ann Kornbluth is a cell biologist and academic administrator, currently serving as the 18th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since January 2023.[1]

Kornbluth previously served as provost of Duke University from 2014 to 2022 and vice dean for basic sciences of Duke University School of Medicine from 2006 to 2014.[2]

## Early life and education[edit]

Kornbluth was born in Paterson, New Jersey[3] and grew up in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.[3] Her father George was an accountant[3] and her mother, Marisa Galvany, was an opera singer.[4]

Kornbluth received a Bachelor of Arts with a major in political science from Williams College in 1982 and a Bachelor of Science with a major in genetics from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1984. She received a Doctor of Philosophy in molecular oncology from the Rockefeller University in 1989.[5]

While at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, she was a Herchel Smith Scholar. She worked at the laboratory of Hidesaburo Hanafusa when at Rockefeller University, [6] and performed postdoctoral training with John Newport at the University of California, San Diego.[7][8]

## Career[edit]

Kornbluth became a member of the faculty at Duke University in 1994. She served as vice dean for basic sciences at Duke University School of Medicine from 2006 to 2014.[9] Her research focuses on cell growth and programmed cell death and how cancer cells evade apoptosis.[10][11] She is also interested in the role of programmed cell death in regulating the length of female fertility in vertebrates, in a mechanism regulated by caspase-2.[8][12][13]

She received the Basic Science Research Mentoring Award from the Duke School of Medicine in 2012 and the Distinguished Faculty Award from the Duke Medical Alumni Association in 2013. She was elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine in 2013.[9]

In 2014, after a national search, she was selected as Provost of Duke University, the first woman to serve in this role.[7][14] As Provost, she has overseen a leadership transition in which female Deans have become a majority at Duke.[15] Kornbluth is an advocate of liberal arts education and has stated that her own experience in a liberal arts education at Williams College led her to a career in the sciences.[16] Ellen Davis, a professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke and a member of the search committee that selected Kornbluth as Provost, commented that Kornbluth's liberal arts education "gives her a strong base to understand and guide our programs."[7] She is also an advocate for on-line learning as a driver of pedagogic innovation.[17]

In her capacity of Chair of the Board of Trustees at Duke Kunshan University,[18] Kornbluth has overseen the appointment of Al Bloom as the university's Executive Vice Chancellor in 2020,[19] and the launch of the WHU-Duke Research Institute in collaboration with Duke and Wuhan universities in 2014.[20]

In 2022, Kornbluth was selected as the 18th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and succeeded L. Rafael Reif in this role in 2023.[21][22]

## Anti-semitism hearing[edit]

On December 5 2023, a hearing took place in the U.S. Congressregarding allegations of antisemitism at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). President Sally Kornbluth, who was questioned by Rep. Elise Stefanik repeatedly refused to acknowledge that calling for the genocide of Jews was harassment [23].

## Personal life[edit]

Kornbluth is married to Daniel Lew, the James B. Duke Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at the Duke University School of Medicine.[3] They have two children.[3] Kornbluth is Jewish.[3]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Hartocollis, Anemona (October 20, 2022). "M.I.T. Names a Duke Provost as Its New President". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
2. ^ "Sally Kornbluth". MIT Department of Biology. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
3. ^ a b c d e f Bradt, Steve (October 27, 2022). "Sally Kornbluth is named MIT's 18th president". Jewish Journal. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
4. ^ Smith, Robin (October 31, 2014). "A scientist's unlikely path, with Duke Provost Sally Kornbluth". Duke Research Blog. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
5. ^ "Sally Kornbluth". MIT Department of Biology. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
6. ^ Kornbluth, Sally Ann (1989). Modulation of cellular src family tyrosine kinases: Phosphorylation state and polyomavirus middle T antigen binding (Ph.D. thesis). The Rockefeller University. OCLC 38075792. ProQuest 303824168.
7. ^ a b c "Sally Kornbluth Named Duke University Provost" (Press release). Duke University. March 3, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
8. ^ a b Sedwick, Caitlin (July 7, 2014). "Sally Kornbluth: Nature's incredible contraptions". The Journal of Cell Biology. 206 (1): 4–5. doi:10.1083/jcb.2061pi. ISSN 0021-9525. PMC 4085709. PMID 25002675.
9. ^ a b "Sally Kornbluth, vice dean for basic science at Duke, named to Institute of Medicine" (Press release). Duke Medicine. October 21, 2013. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
10. ^ "Sally KornBluth, Ph.D." Duke University School of Medicine - Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
11. ^ Matsuura, K.; Huang, N.-J.; Cocce, K.; Zhang, L.; Kornbluth, S. (2017). "Downregulation of the proapoptotic protein MOAP-1 by the UBR5 ubiquitin ligase and its role in ovarian cancer resistance to cisplatin". Oncogene. 36 (12): 1698–1706. doi:10.1038/onc.2016.336. ISSN 1476-5594. PMC 5447866. PMID 27721409.
12. ^ Nutt, Leta K.; Margolis, Seth S.; Jensen, Mette; Herman, Catherine E.; Dunphy, William G.; Rathmell, Jeffrey C.; Kornbluth, Sally (October 7, 2005). "Metabolic regulation of oocyte cell death through the CaMKII-mediated phosphorylation of caspase-2". Cell. 123 (1): 89–103. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2005.07.032. ISSN 0092-8674. PMC 2788768. PMID 16213215.
13. ^ "The Collaborator". MIT News.
14. ^ Muoio, Danielle (July 1, 2014). "Meet Sally Kornbluth: the first female provost". The Chronicle (Duke University). Archived from the original on March 19, 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
15. ^ WRAL (July 26, 2018). "'Two remaining men': Female leaders become majority at Duke schools". WRAL.com. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
16. ^ Yang, Robert (March 12, 2014). "Duke appoints Kornbluth as provost". The Williams Record. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
17. ^ Anders, George. "Duke's Sally Kornbluth Gives Online Learning Top Marks". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
18. ^ "Board of Trustees | Duke Kunshan University". dukekunshan.edu.cn. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
19. ^ "Global education leader Al Bloom to be executive vice chancellor | Duke Kunshan University". dukekunshan.edu.cn. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
20. ^ "Overview | Duke Kunshan University". dukekunshan.edu.cn. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
21. ^ Bradt, Steve (October 20, 2022). "Sally Kornbluth is named as MIT's 18th president". Retrieved October 20, 2022.
22. ^ Hartocollis, Anemona (October 20, 2022). "M.I.T. Names a Duke Provost as Its New President". The New York Times. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
23. ^ "Heads of 3 top US colleges refuse to say calling for genocide of Jews is harassment". Time of Israel. Retrieved May 23, 2019.

Academic offices

Preceded by

Leo Rafael Reif

| 18th President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2023 – present  | Incumbent

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Presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

* William Barton Rogers (1862)
* John Daniel Runkle (1870)
* William Barton Rogers (1879)
* Francis Amasa Walker (1881)
* James Crafts (1897)
* Henry Smith Pritchett (1900)
* Arthur Amos Noyes # (1907)
* Richard Cockburn Maclaurin (1909)
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* Howard Wesley Johnson (1966)
* Jerome Wiesner (1971)
* Paul E. Gray (1980)
* Charles M. Vest (1990)
* Susan Hockfield (2004)
* L. Rafael Reif (2012)
* Sally Kornbluth (2023)

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