Head of Pathology Named Farber Institute President

The head of the Pathology Department at the Medical School will become the president and chief executive officer of Boston's Sidney Farber Cancer Institute in July, Richard A. Smith, chairman of the board of the Institute, announced yesterday.

Dr. Baraj Benacerraf, Fabyan Professor of Comparative Pathology, will assume administrative responsibility for the Institute previously handled by Dr. Emil Frei III, professor of Medicine and director of the institute. Frei will continue to serve as director and physician-in-chief.

"The Harvard community is delighted and honored by the naming of one of its most distinguished members to the presidency of one of our nation's premier comprehensive cancer centers," Dr. Daniel C. Tosteson, dean of the Medical School, said yesterday.

"Doctor Benecerraf brings to the institute superb skills as a scientist, an educator and an administrator," Smith said.

"His selection reaffirms the institute's commitment to focus the full weight of its impressive human and physical resources on the biology of cancer, its treatment, prevention and ultimate eradication," he added.

"The appointment of Dr. Benecerraf and the continued service of Dr. Frei assures that at the Farber Institute there will be a scientific executive team of incomparable strength," Smith said.

Benacerraf said yesterday he will continue to teach and to head the Pathology Department. "I'll just sleep less," he said.

A native of Venezuela, Benacerraf studied in the United States and came to Harvard in 1979. His research in immunology has resulted in nearly 500 scientific papers and numerous international awards.

Benacerraf will be the first professional president of the Farber Institute, a Harvard-affiliated research center located near the Medical School. "In effect a new position has been created to meet the responsibilities of directing the institute, which has grown tenfold in seven years," Smith said.

Currently, a trustee, Mortimer B. Zuckerman, serves as president, but "it's mostly a title." Zuckerman said yesterday.

Benacerraf cited fund-raising as a major concern confronting the institute, one of 21 comprehensive cancer centers in the nation. "Getting federal grants is a very competitive field," Benacerraf said.