Alan Garber

Alan Garber
Garber in 2015
31st President of Harvard University
Incumbent
Assumed office January 2, 2024
Preceded by	Claudine Gay
Provost of Harvard University
In office September 1, 2011 – March 14, 2024
Preceded by	Steven Hyman
Succeeded by	John F. Manning
Personal details
Born	(1955-05-07) May 7, 1955 (age 69) Illinois, U.S.
Spouse	Anne Yahanda
Children	4
Education	Harvard University (BA, MA, PhD) Stanford University (MD)
Scientific career
Fields	Health care policy
Institutions	Stanford University Harvard University
Thesis	Costs and control of antibiotic resistance (1982)
Doctoral advisors	Martin Feldstein Zvi Griliches Richard Zeckhauser

Alan Michael Garber (born May 7, 1955) is an American physician and health economist, currently serving as the 31st president of Harvard University since January 2024.^[1][2]

Garber was born in Illinois, in 1955, to Harry and Jean Garber in a Jewish household.^[3] He grew up in Rock Island, Illinois.^[4]

Garber attended Harvard College, where he obtained a B.A. in economics in 1976 followed by a M.A. and Ph.D. in economics, also from Harvard.^[4] While pursuing his Ph.D., he enrolled simultaneously at Stanford University, where he received a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1983.^[5] He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Harvard Medical School-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston in 1986.

Garber succeeded Steven Hyman as the provost of Harvard University on September 1, 2011.^[5] He served as provost until March 14, 2024, when John F. Manning took on the position on an interim basis.^[6]

Garber is also the Mallinckrodt Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, Professor of Economics in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.^[7][8]

He is currently the president of Harvard University until 2027, having succeeded Claudine Gay after her resignation.^[9][10] Initially appointed as an interim president, on August 2, 2024, the Harvard Corporation announced that Garber would be the university's permanent president for a fixed term of three years ending at the conclusion of the 2026-2027 academic year.

In July 2016, Harvard University's Office of the Provost launched a web page in response to its graduate students' efforts to unionize.^[11] On August 23, 2016, following the Columbia decision which restored union rights to teaching and research assistants, the provost's office wrote in an email to students, "we continue to believe that the relationship between students and the University is primarily about education, and that unionization will disrupt academic programs and freedoms, mentoring, and research at Harvard."^[11] Following a decision by the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board that Harvard was in violation of the Excelsior rule, Garber defended the university's appeal to the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C.,^[12] writing that the university "believes that the November 2016 election results, which reflect the votes and voices of well-informed students, should stand, and has appealed the Regional Director's decision to the contrary."^[11]

In October 2019, The Harvard Crimson reported that Garber collected more than $2.7 million serving on the board of directors for Exelixis^[13] and Vertex Pharmaceuticals^[14] since being appointed as Harvard's provost in 2011, according to SEC filings.^[15] The companies indicated that his compensation was normal for board members.^[16] Garber stated that he had thoroughly disclosed his industry affiliations in conflict of interest forms for the university.^[17]

Under Garber's leadership, Harvard administration drew criticism for preventing 13 undergraduates from collecting their diplomas at the annual commencement ceremony as a consequence for participation in pro-Palestinian protests.^[18] Nearly 500 Harvard faculty and students criticized the sanctions as disproportionate, unprecedented, and designed to stifle open discourse,^[19] while others identified it as an example of the "Palestine Exception" to free speech.^[20] The decision was initially overturned by 115 faculty members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, but ultimately reinstated by the Harvard Corporation.^[21]

Garber and his wife Anne Yahanda have four children.^[5]

• C.V. Alan Garber Stanford University
• Alan M. Garber - Provost Harvard University
• Alan M. Garber - Interim President Harvard University