CORRECTION APPENDED
Harvard Medical School professor Jim Yong Kim was selected to be the 17th president of Dartmouth College yesterday, making him the first Asian American to ever lead an Ivy League institution.
Speaking from a car on the way back from his introduction at Dartmouth, Kim—the head of the Medical School’s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine—said that the college’s environment was a natural fit both geographically and intellectually.
“Being in a natural setting helps people focus and use their minds,” Kim said. “The setting of New Hampshire is a great place to learn.”
Kim added that he was drawn to Hanover by the involvement of professors in undergraduates’ education.
“From the very top, and historically, [Dartmouth] incentivizes professors to be great teachers,” he said. “You have to be both a great teacher and a great researcher to get tenure.”
And as a former high school quarterback in Iowa, Kim cited Dartmouth’s wide range of extracurricular activities and strong involvement in sports as key to producing a productive work setting.
‘INTO THE FIELD’
Much of Kim’s own education was spent within the Harvard community. Though he spent his undergraduate years at Brown, Kim went on to receive his medical degree from HMS and obtained a doctorate in anthropology from the University.
Besides an extensive teaching career, Kim has devoted much of his life to global health activism and disease prevention research.
When he was still in medical school, he co-founded Partners in Health in 1987—a non-profit organization working to bring medical assistance to the world’s neglected communities—with Paul E. Farmer, who went on to be a fellow professor in his department at the Medical School.
Kim also served as director of the World Health Organization’s anti-HIV/AIDS initiative from 2004 to 2006.
According to Howard H. Hiatt, a professor of medicine who worked closely with Kim as associate chief of the division of global health equity at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Kim’s efforts have spearheaded movements to increase awareness of health concerns in developing countries, bringing medical researchers out of their comfort zone and into the field.
He added that Kim has effectively pooled resources from Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School with HMS, a testament to his organizational acumen.
“That’s really not an easy thing to do at a place like Harvard,” Hiatt said.
A NEW HOME
Administrators at Kim’s future college also feel confident that he will bolster both research and teaching efforts.
“Dartmouth views teaching and research as intertwined, not as mutually exclusive, but reinforcing,” said Ronald H. Adams, Dartmouth’s director of media relations. “He fits right in with the Dartmouth ethos.”
[SEE CORRECTION BELOW]
Kim visited Dartmouth yesterday to meet with students and faculty for the first time as president-elect. According to Adams, Kim—a member of Time Magazine’s 2006 top-100 influential people list—was received with great excitement.
“When he began to speak there was an instant rapport there, with not just the students, but faculty and staff,” Adams said.
As Kim bonds to his new community, his old colleagues caution that the initiative he started in Cambridge must be continued.
“It would be a terrible mistake to let his achievements here go with him,” Hiatt said. “He can’t be replaced, but there are others that he’s trained who will keep going and take up the mantle.”
“It’s crucial,” he added.
—Staff writer Alexander R. Konrad can be reached at akonrad@fas.harvard.edu.
CORRECTION
The Mar. 3 news article
"HMS Prof To Lead Dartmouth" incorrectly stated the name of Dartmouth's
director of media relations as Ronald H. Adams. In fact, his name is
Roland H. Adams, Jr.
