Alan Garber

Alan Garber
Garber in 2025
31st President of Harvard University
Incumbent
Assumed office August 2, 2024 interim: 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 Illinois, U.S.
Spouse	Anne Yahanda
Children	4
Education	Harvard University (BA, MA, PhD) Stanford University (MD)
Scientific career
Fields	Health economics
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 December 7, 2024. Previously, he served as provost of Harvard University from 2011 to March 2024.

Early life and education

Garber was born in Illinois in 1955, to Jean and Harry Garber. He is Jewish. He grew up in Rock Island, Illinois.

Garber received a Bachelor of Arts with a major in economics in 1976, a Master of Arts in economics in 1977, and a PhD in economics in 1982. While pursuing his PhD at Harvard, he enrolled simultaneously at Stanford University, where he received a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1983. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Harvard Medical School-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston in 1986.

Career

Garber succeeded Steven Hyman as the provost of Harvard University on September 1, 2011. He served as provost until March 14, 2024, when John F. Manning took on the position on an interim basis. Later, Manning was appointed provost permanently.

Garber is 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.

He succeeded Claudine Gay as the president of Harvard University. Initially appointed as an interim president, on January 2, 2024. On August 2, the Harvard Corporation announced that Garber would be the permanent president of the university for a fixed term of three years ending at the conclusion of the 2026–2027 academic year. He was installed as the 31st president of Harvard University on December 7, 2024, in a private ceremony at Menschel Hall, one of the Harvard Art Museums.

In 2025, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

Tenure and controversies

Opposition to graduate student unionization

In July 2016, the Harvard University Office of the Provost launched a web page in response to efforts to unionize its graduate students. On August 23, 2016, following the Columbia decision that restored union rights to teaching and research assistants, the provost 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." 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 appeal to the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., 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".

Private corporation board memberships

In October 2019, The Harvard Crimson reported that SEC filings record that since being appointed as Harvard's provost in 2011, Garber earned more than $2.7 million by serving on the boards of directors for two pharmaceutical companies, Exelixis and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Garber responded that he had thoroughly disclosed his industry affiliations in conflict of interest forms for the university, and the companies indicated that his compensation was normal for board members.

2024 commencement

The Harvard administration drew criticism for preventing 13 undergraduates from collecting their diplomas at the May 2024 commencement ceremony as a consequence of their participation in pro-Palestinian protests. Nearly 500 Harvard faculty and students criticized the sanctions as disproportionate, unprecedented, and designed to stifle open discourse, while others identified the action as an example of an "Exception" to free speech. The decision was initially overturned by 115 faculty members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, but ultimately was reinstated by the Harvard Corporation in May 2025.

Clash with the Trump administration

Garber applauded at Harvard Alumni Day (June 6, 2025)

On April 11, 2025, the Trump administration sent a letter to Garber threatening to cut back billions in federal funding unless Harvard accepted government demands that included requirements to “audit” the viewpoints of student body, faculty, staff, and to “reduc[e] the power” of certain students, faculty, and administrators targeted because of their political views. It also demanded several pro-Palestinian student organizations to be dismantled and banned. On April 14, Garber announced that it had informed the administration through its legal counsel that the university had refused the Trump administration's proposed agreement. Garber's decision was hailed by many left-leaning political activists, including Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders. In response, the Trump administration began a series of legal assaults against the university, including asking the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the tax-exempt status of the university, freezing 2.2 billion dollars in federal funding to the university, and barring the university from enrolling international students. At the University's 2025 commencement, Garber received multiple standing ovations during his speech for his defiance of the Trump administration. He received similar applause at the annual Alumni Day celebration the following week.

Personal life

Garber and his wife Anne Yahanda have four children.

External links

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