Dana-Farber CEO and president to step down

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute president and CEO Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher, left, is stepping down, and Dr. Benjamin Levine Ebert, chair of the Department of Medical Oncology, will serve as the next president and CEO of Dana-Farber, effective October 1.

Photos: Courtesy of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute president and CEO Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher has announced she will step down on October 1 and assume the title of president emerita.

Dr. Benjamin Levine Ebert, chair of the Department of Medical Oncology, will serve as the next president and CEO of Dana-Farber, effective October 1.

Board Chairman Josh Bekenstein said, "His leadership and experience will be extremely beneficial as we plan for the proposed new cancer hospital and clinical collaboration."

Last year, Glimcher announced Dana-Farber's proposal to build a new 300-bed inpatient hospital dedicated to adult patients with cancer and a new collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

In his role as chair of the Department of Medical Oncology, Ebert oversees more than 300 faculty members and more than 80 cancer research laboratories. His tenure has been marked by growth in the number of faculty, in clinical volume and in the amount of research funding, according to Dana-Farber.

Ebert's initiatives include programs for early career faculty mentorship, faculty wellbeing and increased multidisciplinary collaboration. With mentorship as a core priority, he developed a leadership team of world-renowned physicians and scientists across clinical and research domains in oncology, according to Dana-Farber.

"I'm extraordinarily honored to be selected as the next president and CEO of Dana-Farber and to build on the exceptional leadership and accomplishments of Laurie Glimcher," Ebert said. "Dana-Farber is truly a remarkable organization and a global leader in innovation, and in caring and advocating for cancer patients. Together with our executive leadership team, I will continue to advance a patient-first model as we open this new chapter."

WHY THIS MATTERS

Glimcher, who is a researcher, has served as director of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and is the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

She is the seventh president of Dana-Farber and is the first woman to lead the organization in its 77-year history, Glimcher began her tenure in October 2016 with a focus on improving outcomes for patients and accelerating cancer drug development.

Dana-Farber is credited in the development of 51% of all cancer drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over the past five years.

"Eight years ago, I began this journey with a deep appreciation for the extraordinary research that emanated from Dana-Farber since its earliest days and the clinical excellence that Dana-Farber provides patients and families," said Glimcher. "And now, as I reflect on my tenure, I am intensely proud of what we have achieved in providing world class care for our patients, leading in innovation, and discovering new treatments and cures."

Under Glimcher's leadership, the Institute's regional locations grew from four to seven, there was a 51% growth in patient volume and a 62% increase in grant and industry-funded research support, totaling $450 million in 2023.

She has led the Dana-Farber Campaign, an ambitious fundraising effort that will close at the end of September, in support of science, new therapies and institutional initiatives.

"This is the perfect time for me to pass the leadership of this remarkable institution on to the next generation, and return my focus to cancer immunology research," Glimcher said.

Glimcher expanded the Institute's Cancer Care Equity Program, which is at the forefront of efforts to reduce disparities in cancer outcomes for historically marginalized groups in the Greater Boston. It is a national model for translating cancer equity research into interventions. Dana-Farber currently has over 90 active clinical research studies and pilot programs which relate to the understanding and/or elimination of disparities in cancer.

THE LARGER TREND

Ebert is currently the George P. Canellos, MD, and Jean S. Canellos Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, and an Institute Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He leads a research laboratory that focuses on the molecular basis and treatment of hematologic malignancies and its nonmalignant precursor conditions, with a particular focus on myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and clonal hematopoiesis.

He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians and the Academy of the American Association for Cancer Research. 

He served as president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2017.  He received the William Dameshek Prize from the American Society of Hematology, the Meyenburg Prize for Cancer Research, the Sjöberg Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Korsmeyer Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He has received awards from Harvard Medical School and the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program for mentorship.

Ebert received a bachelor's degree from Williams College and a doctorate from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in the laboratory of Sir Peter Ratcliffe.  He completed his medical degree at Harvard Medical School, a residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a fellowship in hematology/oncology at Dana-Farber.

ON THE RECORD

"Laurie Glimcher's tenure as Dana-Farber's president has been transformative and impactful for our patients, our physician-scientists, our workforce and the entire oncology community," said Josh Bekenstein, Dana-Farber Board Chair. "With a very strong foundation built on Laurie's extremely accomplished and successful tenure and now with Ben's leadership, Dana-Farber will continue being a world leader in cancer care and research." 

Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org

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