Laurie Glimcher is to be the next CEO of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and she turned down the opportunity to be the first female dean of Harvard Medical School to do so, Stat News reports.
"I felt I would have more autonomy at Dana-Farber, which is an institution that stands on its own," she tells Stat News. She will be the first woman to run the cancer center when she takes over for Edward Benz, who is stepping down in January.
Currently, Glimcher, an immunologist, is the dean of Weill Cornell Medical College and her research has recently been focused on cancer immunotherapy, though it has previously touched on asthma, HIV, inflammatory bowel disease, and osteoporosis, Stat News notes.
"She has just for years and years made seminal discovery after seminal discovery," says Paul Anderson, chief academic officer at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
She's also been supportive of women, both within and outside her lab, Stat News notes. While at Cornell, she set up paid maternal leave, a daycare center, and a grant program for postdocs who are also primary caregivers.
Glimcher further recruited a number of top researchers there, including one from Harvard to start a cancer center. In addition, Stat News notes she has a reputation as impressive fundraiser.
When she starts at Dana-Farber, Glimcher says she plans to keep her lab.