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About Carnegie Corporation
Susan
Hockfield
Trustee, Carnegie Corporation of New York
Susan
Hockfield, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
was elected to the board of Carnegie Corporation of New York, on
December 7, 2006.
Hockfield,
the sixteenth president of the Massachusetts Institution of Technology
and noted neuroscientist, is the twentieth member of the board of
trustees and joins two other university presidents, three former
governors, as well as current and former leaders from the World
Bank, the United Nations and ministries throughout the world who
serve as trustees to the Corporation. A distinguished neuroscientist
whose research has focused on the development of the brain, Dr.
Hockfield holds a faculty appointment as professor of neuroscience
in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.
Before
assuming the presidency of MIT, she was the William Edward Gilbert
Professor of Neurobiology and provost at Yale University. As provost,
she encouraged collaborative work throughout Yale and encouraged
cross-disciplinary initiatives between the humanities, social sciences
and the sciences. Dr. Hockfield directed the Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory Summer Neurobiology Program from 1985 to 1997, concurrent
with her teaching post at Yale. More recently, she has served as
a trustee of the Laboratory.
Dr.
Hockfield’s own research has focused on glioma, a deadly kind
of brain cancer. She pioneered the use of monoclonal antibody technology
in brain research, leading to her discovery of a protein that regulates
changes in neuronal structure as a result of an animal's early life
experiences. More recently she discovered a gene and its family
of protein products that play a critical role in the spread of cancer
in the brain and may represent new therapeutic targets for glioma.
A member
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Hockfield holds
honorary degrees from Brown University, Tsinghua University (Beijing),
and the Watson School of Biological Sciences at the Cold Spring
Harbor Laboratory. Her other honors include the Wilbur Lucius Cross
Medal from the Yale University Graduate School, the Meliora Citation
for Career Achievement from the University of Rochester, and the
Charles Judson Herrick Award from the American Association of Anatomists
for outstanding contributions by a young scientist. She also serves
as a director of the General Electric Company and the World Economic
Forum Foundation, a trustee of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution,
and an overseer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Dr.
Hockfield earned her undergraduate degree from the University of
Rochester and a Ph.D. from the Georgetown University School of Medicine,
while carrying out her dissertation research in neuroscience at
the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
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