Dartmouth Appoints New President

Dedicated educator and humanitarian has provided visionary leadership in academia, public policy, and global health continues long tradition of Dartmouth Presidents who have had significant impact on the world stage and in the classroom.

Jim Yong Kim, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, has been elected the 17th President of Dartmouth by the College's Board of Trustees. Ed Haldeman, Chair of Dartmouth's Board of Trustees, announced the appointment at a meeting of students, faculty and staff.

Dr. Kim, 49, will take office on July 1, 2009 and succeeds James Wright, who previously announced that he is stepping down in June after 11 years as President of the College.

"Jim Yong Kim embodies the ideals of learning, innovation, and service that lie at the heart of Dartmouth's mission," Haldeman said. "As a passionate educator and physician, he has had a profound impact on students, faculty, colleagues and fellow health professionals. And as a leader in the field of global health, Jim has helped to transform efforts to bring health care to the world's poor. Jim follows in the long tradition of Dartmouth presidents who have made a significant mark both in higher education and on the world stage, and we are confident he is the ideal person to lead the College in today's rapidly changing environment."

Dr. Kim trained as both a physician and anthropologist, receiving his M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Brown University in 1982. A former senior official at the World Health Organization and co-founder of Partners In Health, he is internationally acknowledged for his leadership in the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and other diseases. In 2004, in recognition of his many accomplishments, he was elected to the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Kim said, "I am honored and humbled to accept this role, and look forward to building on the many achievements of Jim Wright and his predecessors that have made Dartmouth the vibrant, world-class institution it is today. Dartmouth is a unique and special place with a powerful sense of community. The educational opportunities it offers, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, are exceptional, and the loyalty and passion of its alumni, faculty, staff and students are unrivaled. I could not be more excited about this opportunity to help build on Dartmouth's great traditions as well as its singular role in higher education."

President-elect Kim is only the 17th president in the Wheelock Succession of leaders since Eleazar Wheelock founded Dartmouth College in 1769. Born in Seoul, Korea, he is also the first Asian American to be appointed President of an Ivy League school.

In addition to his role as Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Kim is Chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, a major Harvard teaching hospital, and Director of the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health. He continues to teach undergraduate classes alongside his administrative responsibilities, development activities, writings and other academic and clinical contributions. His classes today are enormously popular and constantly oversubscribed and he plans to continue to teach undergraduates at Dartmouth.

President Wright described Dr. Kim's election as "a proud and defining moment in Dartmouth's history."

Dr. Kim has 20 years of experience in improving health in developing countries. He is a founding trustee and the former executive director of Partners In Health, a not-for-profit organization that supports a range of health programs in poor communities worldwide. In 2004, he was appointed Director of the HIV/AIDS Department at the World Health Organization, where he launched an initiative to dramatically expand access to HIV/AIDS treatment in low- and middle-income countries. By 2007, the initiative had helped to provide lifesaving antiretroviral therapy to approximately three million people worldwide and had accelerated global efforts to fight other diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria.

Dartmouth College enrolls approximately 4,100 undergraduates in the liberal arts and 1,700 graduate students. Drawing faculty and students from around the world, Dartmouth is committed to advancing the principles of liberal education within a diverse community of students, teachers and scholars. In addition to 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences, it is home to the nation's fourth-oldest medical school: the Dartmouth Medical School, founded in 1797; the nation's first professional school of engineering: the Thayer School of Engineering, founded in 1867; and the first graduate school of management in the world: the Tuck School of Business, established in 1900.

Since 2003, Dartmouth and the American University of Kuwait have worked together under the terms of an agreement that allows Dartmouth to play an advisory role in helping to build the new university. The two institutions have developed a flourishing relationship that involves faculty, students, and staff.

Article courtesy of Dartmouth College Office of Public Affairs.

Dartmouth appoints new president