Eric Lander | |
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Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy | |
In office June 2, 2021 – February 18, 2022 | |
President | Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Kelvin Droegemeier |
Succeeded by | Arati Prabhakar |
Science Advisor to the President | |
In office January 25, 2021 – February 18, 2022 | |
President | Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Kelvin Droegemeier |
Succeeded by | Francis Collins (acting) Arati Prabhakar (designate) |
Personal details | |
Born | New York City, New York, U.S. | February 3, 1957
Political party | Democratic[1] |
Spouse(s) | Lori Lander |
Education | Princeton University (AB) Wolfson College, Oxford (MS, DPhil) |
Awards | MacArthur Fellowship (1987) Dickson Prize (1997) Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service (1998) Gairdner Award (2002) Harvey Prize (2012) Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2013) |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | Broad Institute Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Thesis | Topics in Algebraic Coding Theory (1980) |
Doctoral advisor | Peter Cameron |
Doctoral students | Julie Segre[2] Kenro Kusumi[3] Manolis Kellis[4] Erez Lieberman Aiden Mark Daly |
Eric Steven Lander (born February 3, 1957) is an American mathematician and geneticist. He was the 11th Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy from 2021 until 2022 during the Joe Biden administration.
Lander was a professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was a professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School.
He was a former member of the Whitehead Institute, and the founding director of the Broad Institute. He was co-chair of U.S. President Barack Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.[5][6] He is a 1987 MacArthur Fellow.
On January 15, 2021 Lander was nominated to be Director of Office of Science and Technology Policy by then President-elect Joe Biden.[7] Biden also upgraded the office to cabinet-level office.[7] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 28, 2021.[8]
On February 7, 2022, Politico reported on a White House investigation in which fourteen current and former Office of Science and Technology Policy staffers accused Lander on February 4 of bullying staffers.[9] Lander admitted to the behavior and apologized on February 4, before resigning later on February 18.[10][11]