Eric Lander - founding director

Eric Lander is founding director and a core institute member of the ӳ��ý of MIT and Harvard. A geneticist, molecular biologist, and mathematician, he has played a pioneering role in all aspects of the reading, understanding, and biomedical application of the human genome. He was a principal leader of the international Human Genome Project.

Eric S. Lander, ӳ��ý Director

As founding director, Lander plays a leading role in shaping the conception, development, distillation, and execution of ӳ��ý’s scientific directions to drive the ӳ��ý community’s shared impact. He also serves as a key mentor and strategist to ӳ��ý’s scientific community and administrative leadership, especially around issues of major strategic and scientific importance.

A widely-recognized scientific visionary, Lander has developed powerful methods for discovering the molecular basis of human diseases.

From 2009 to 2017, he served as co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology for President Barack Obama. From 2021 to 2022, he took a leave of absence to serve as President Biden’s Science Advisor and a member of his cabinet, as well as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In 2022, Lander launched , a solutions incubator focused on addressing urgent challenges including the climate and energy crisis, medicine and public health, and STEM equity and education.

This page offers links to key scientific publications; courseware, which is freely available through MIT edX; public policy; op-eds; perspectives; and to selected news items and interviews.

About Eric Lander: Biographical information

Science

(Nature, 2001)
(Nature genetics, 2001)
(Nature, 2002)
(Science, 2008)
(Science, 2009)

(MIT EdX)
(MIT Open Courseware)
(The Moth)

(2023)
Amicus brief: Robert A. Rucho v. Common Cause (2019)
Ensuring the reliability of forensic methods in criminal courts (2018)
(2017)
Report to the President: Forensic Science in Criminal Courts (2016)
Report to the President: Hearing Technologies (2015)
Report to the President: Combating Antibiotic Resistance (2014)
Report to the President: Propelling Innovation in Drug Discovery, Development, and Evaluation (2012)
Report to the President: Government-Held Spectrum (2012)
Amicus brief: Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics (2013)

(Boston Globe, 2020)
(Boston Globe, with Reed Jobs, 2018)
Will America yield its position as the world’s leader in science and technology? (Boston Globe, 2018)
Save the miracle machine () (Washington Post, with Eric Schmidt, 2017)
Hype vs. hope in medical research (Boston Globe, 2016)
(New York Times, 2015)
(Wall Street Journal, with Louis Gerstner, 2014)
(Science, 2011)
In Wake of Genetic Revolution, Questions About Its Meaning (New York Times, 2000)

Perspectives

(NEJM, 2021, with co-authors)
(Pushkin, 2020)
(with co-authors)

Public talks

(HUBweek, 2018)
(Koch Institute 2017 Summer Symposium)
2016-17 MIT James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award lecture ()
University of Louvain honorary degree presentation and speech (, transcript) (February, 2017)
(MIT 2016 Celebration)
Limits to our Understanding (, transcript) (International Summit on Human Gene Editing, 2015)
The Miracle Machine (, ) (National Math Festival, 2015)
(2013)
(National Human Genome Research Institute 2007)
(Williams College graduation address, 2003)