Alan Garber

Alan Garber
Born	Alan Michael Garber 7 5, 1955
Birthplace	Rock Island, Illinois, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Template:Flatlist
Title	President of Harvard University
Known for	31st President of Harvard University
Education	Harvard University (BA, MA, PhD) Stanford University (MD)
Spouse(s)	Anne Yahanda
Children	4
Awards	Yale Legend in Leadership Award (2026)

Alan Michael Garber (born May 7, 1955) is an American physician, health economist, and university administrator who has served as the 31st president of Harvard University since 2024. A graduate of Harvard, where he earned bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, and of Stanford University, where he received his medical degree, Garber spent much of his academic career at Stanford before returning to Harvard as its provost in 2011. He became interim president of Harvard in January 2024 following the resignation of Claudine Gay, and was confirmed as the permanent president in August of that year. Garber's scholarly work has focused on health economics, including the costs and effectiveness of medical technologies, and he has been affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research. In December 2025, Harvard's governing boards agreed to extend his presidency indefinitely beyond the original 2027 end date, citing the need for continuity during a period of significant challenges for the university and American higher education more broadly.

Early Life

Alan Michael Garber was born on May 7, 1955, in Rock Island, Illinois, a city in the western part of the state along the Mississippi River. He is Jewish, a background he has discussed publicly in the context of his leadership of Harvard during periods of heightened tensions on campus.

Education

Garber pursued his undergraduate education at Harvard University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. He is identified as a member of the Harvard Class of 1976. He continued his graduate studies at Harvard, earning a Master of Arts degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in economics. His doctoral dissertation, titled "Costs and control of antibiotic resistance," was completed in 1982 under the supervision of economists Martin Feldstein, Zvi Griliches, and Richard Zeckhauser. Garber subsequently earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from Stanford University, giving him an unusual combination of expertise in both economics and clinical medicine that would define his subsequent career in health economics and medical decision-making.

Career

Academic Career at Stanford

After completing his medical training, Garber joined the faculty of Stanford University, where he built his academic career as both a physician and a health economist. At Stanford, his research focused on health economics, including the evaluation of costs and effectiveness of medical technologies, the economics of aging, and the economic dimensions of health care delivery. He became affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research, a leading nonpartisan economic research organization, where he contributed to research on health economics.

Garber's curriculum vitae from Stanford documents an extensive record of academic research and professional service during his time on the Stanford faculty. His dual training in medicine and economics positioned him at the intersection of clinical practice and health policy, and his work contributed to the growing field of evidence-based analysis of medical interventions and their costs.

Corporate Board Service

In addition to his academic work, Garber served on the boards of directors of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. He was appointed to the board of directors of Exelixis, a biotechnology company focused on oncology treatments. He also served on the board of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, which announced his appointment in connection with his role as provost of Harvard University. His service on the boards of pharmaceutical companies drew some scrutiny during his tenure at Harvard, with The Harvard Crimson reporting on potential conflicts of interest related to his positions.

Provost of Harvard University

In 2011, Garber was appointed as the sixth Provost of Harvard University, succeeding Steven Hyman in the role. His appointment was announced in April 2011, and he assumed the position on September 1, 2011. The provost serves as the chief academic officer of the university, overseeing academic policies, programs, and planning across Harvard's schools and faculties. Garber's appointment brought his background in health economics and medical research to the university's central administration.

During his tenure as provost, Garber was involved in several significant institutional matters. In 2016, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that graduate students at private universities had the right to unionize, a decision with direct implications for Harvard. The issue of graduate student unionization became a recurring administrative matter during Garber's provostship. In November 2017, Garber sent an email to students regarding the graduate student unionization process.

Garber served as provost under multiple Harvard presidents, providing administrative continuity across leadership transitions. He held the position from 2011 until March 14, 2024, when he was succeeded as provost by John F. Manning.

Interim and Permanent President of Harvard

On January 2, 2024, Claudine Gay resigned as president of Harvard University amid controversies involving allegations of plagiarism in her academic work and her congressional testimony regarding campus antisemitism. Garber, as provost and the senior academic officer of the university, assumed the role of interim president immediately upon Gay's departure.

The transition from interim to permanent president occurred on August 2, 2024, when Garber was formally installed as the 31st president of Harvard University. His ascension to the presidency marked an unusual path, as he was elevated from within the university's existing administrative leadership rather than being selected through a traditional presidential search process.

Presidency: Campus Speech and Faculty Activism

As president, Garber has addressed issues of campus debate and free speech. In January 2026, he publicly stated that the university "went wrong" by allowing professors to inject their personal views into campus discourse in ways that chilled debate and free speech. In a podcast appearance, Garber faulted faculty activism for creating an environment that limited open discussion on campus. This stance reflected a broader institutional effort under Garber's leadership to redefine expectations around academic freedom and institutional neutrality.

Presidency: Higher Education Advocacy

Garber has also used his position to advocate for the independence of private universities from government interference. In April 2025, he published a public statement titled "The Promise of American Higher Education," in which he argued that no government, regardless of party, should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit, or whom they can hire. The statement was issued during a period of increased political scrutiny of elite universities in the United States and reflected Garber's defense of institutional autonomy.

Presidency: Term Extension

In December 2025, Harvard's governing boards agreed to extend Garber's presidency beyond its originally planned end date of June 30, 2027. The extension was announced as open-ended, without a specified new termination date. Garber himself commented that the progress made during his tenure had made him "prouder than ever to be part of the University" and that he was "determined to see us through this uniquely challenging period." The Harvard Crimson characterized the extension as granting Garber an "open-ended runway" to continue leading the institution, noting that when Harvard had initially elevated him from interim president in August 2024, it had given him three years to stabilize the university.

Presidency: Jewish Identity and Leadership

Garber has spoken publicly about his Jewish identity in the context of his leadership of Harvard, particularly in the aftermath of the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent campus tensions over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a December 2025 interview with JewishBoston, he discussed leadership in times of crisis, with the publication describing him as "a Jewish leader finding clarity amid crisis" during a "tumultuous year" that put the Harvard president in the spotlight.

Personal Life

Garber is married to Anne Yahanda. The couple has four children. He holds both an MD and a PhD, reflecting his dual professional identity as a physician and an economist. His faculty affiliations have included positions at both the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Recognition

In January 2026, the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute presented Garber with the Yale Legend in Leadership Award. The award was presented at the Yale Higher Education Leadership Summit on January 27, 2026, at the Yale School of Management. The event also featured the presentation of the same award to University of Virginia President Jim Ryan.

Garber's affiliation with the National Bureau of Economic Research reflects recognition of his standing as a researcher in health economics. His appointment to corporate boards at Exelixis and Vertex Pharmaceuticals also indicated recognition of his expertise at the intersection of medicine and economics.

Legacy

Garber's presidency of Harvard has been defined by the circumstances of his ascent and the challenges he has faced. He assumed leadership of the university at a moment of institutional crisis following the resignation of Claudine Gay, and his tenure has coincided with a period of intense public and political scrutiny of elite American universities over issues including campus speech, antisemitism, academic freedom, and government regulation of higher education.

His decision to publicly address the role of faculty activism in limiting campus debate, and his advocacy for the autonomy of private universities from government control, have positioned him as a prominent voice in national discussions about the future of American higher education. The open-ended extension of his presidency by Harvard's governing boards in December 2025 signaled institutional confidence in his leadership and a commitment to continuity during a period of significant uncertainty for the university.

Garber's career trajectory — from health economist and physician to university provost and president — represents an atypical path to the leadership of a major research university. His dual training in medicine and economics, and his long experience in both academic research and university administration, have informed an approach to institutional leadership grounded in data-driven decision-making and policy analysis.