Dana-Farber CEO Laurie Glimcher To Step Down, Succeeded By Medical Oncology Chair

Updated September 3, 2024 at 11:11 p.m.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute President and CEO Laurie H. Glimcher ’72 will step down from her post at the end of September, the institute announced on Tuesday.

Medical Oncology Chair Benjamin L. Ebert — who oversees more than half of Dana-Farber’s faculty — will succeed Glimcher as president and CEO of DFCI beginning October 1.

Glimcher — who has led the institute as its first woman CEO since 2016 — approached Dana-Farber board chair Josh Bekenstein in the spring about relinquishing her executive duties, according to The Boston Globe. Though she will remain at her Dana-Farber immunology lab, Glimcher said she will spend more time with family and mentoring younger researchers.

“Eight years ago, I began this journey with a deep appreciation for the extraordinary research that emanated from Dana-Farber since its earliest days and the clinical excellence that Dana-Farber provides patients and families,” Glimcher said in a press release on Tuesday.

“I am intensely proud of what we have achieved in providing world class care for our patients, leading in innovation, and discovering new treatments and cures,” she added.

The last year of Glimcher’s tenure as CEO has been marked by controversy. Four senior Dana-Farber researchers — including herself — were accused of data manipulation in January, and in April, the journal Science retracted a 2006 paper for which Glimcher was listed as a corresponding author. At the time, a DFCI spokesperson wrote to The Crimson that journal reviews were “ongoing” and that “we encourage them to do so promptly so that the scientific record is accurate.”

Glimcher also faced criticism over her surprise decision last year to end Dana-Farber’s decades-long relationship with the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, instead building a new hospital dedicated to cancer care with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Glimcher — who attended Radcliffe College and Harvard Medical School — is a professor of medicine at HMS, and she previously served as a dean and professor of medicine at Weill Cornell.

Ebert graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as a fellowship at DFCI. He will now be tasked with steering Dana-Farber through the expensive process of building a new hospital with Beth Israel.

Ebert said in the press release that he was “extraordinarily honored” to be named the next president and CEO of Dana-Farber.

“Dana-Farber is truly a remarkable organization and a global leader in innovation, and in caring and advocating for cancer patients,” Ebert said. “Together with our executive leadership team, I will continue to advance a patient-first model as we open this new chapter.”

—Staff writer Veronica H. Paulus can be reached at veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @VeronicaHPaulus.

—Staff writer Akshaya Ravi can be reached at akshaya.ravi@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @akshayaravi22.