Eric Lander

Eric S. Lander is Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. A geneticist, molecular biologist, and mathematician, he earned an AB in Mathematics from Princeton University in 1978, graduating as valedictorian and receiving the Pyne Prize, and a DPhil in Mathematics from Oxford University in 1981 as a Rhodes Scholar. His doctoral thesis on algebraic combinatorics and coding theory was published as the book Symmetric Designs: An Algebraic Approach by Cambridge University Press in 1983. From 1981 to 1990, Lander served as assistant and associate professor at Harvard Business School, teaching managerial economics, decision analysis, and bargaining. In 1986, he became a Whitehead Fellow at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, where he established his laboratory. Appointed to the MIT faculty in 1990, he became a member of the Whitehead Institute until 2008. Lander founded and directed the Whitehead/MIT Center for Genome Research from 1991 to 2004, a flagship of the international Human Genome Project. In 2004, he founded the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, serving as its president and director until 2021, and now holds positions as Founding Director Emeritus and core institute member. He received MIT's School of Science Teaching Prize for the course Introduction to Biology: The Secret of Life and the Everett Moore Baker Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 1992.

Lander's research encompasses every aspect of the human genome and its application to medicine. His laboratory seeks to decipher genes responsible for rare genetic diseases, common diseases, and cancer; genetic variation and evolution of the human genome; gene regulation via enhancers, long non-coding RNAs, and three-dimensional folding; developmental trajectories of cellular differentiation; and human population history. A principal leader of the Human Genome Project, he co-authored the landmark paper Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome (Nature, 2001), contributed one-third of the sequencing, produced the first physical map of the human genome (Nature, 1995), and co-authored the first human genetic map (Science, 1987). Other key publications include Initial sequencing and comparative analysis of the mouse genome (Nature, 2002), Comprehensive mapping of long-range interactions reveals folding principles of the human genome (Science, 2009), and Genetic screens in human cells using the CRISPR-Cas9 system (Science, 2014). His work has identified thousands of genes and variants for diseases, advancing biological understanding and treatments, including proposing The Cancer Genome Atlas in 2005. Lander's honors include the MacArthur Fellowship (1987), Gairdner Foundation International Award (2002), Albany Prize (2010), Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2013), AAAS Philip Hauge Abelson Prize (2015), James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award from MIT (2016), and William Allan Award (2018). He co-chaired President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (2009-2017) and served as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under President Biden (2021-2022).

Professional Email: lander@broadinstitute.org