Sally A. Kornbluth, a cell biologist whose eight-year tenure as Duke University’s provost has earner her a reputation as a brilliant administrator, as creative problem-solver, and a leading advocate of academic excellence, has been selected as MIT’s 18th president. She will assume the post o Jan. 1, 2023, succeeding L. Rafael Reif, who had announced his intention to step down after 10 years leading the institute.

As Duke’s provost since 2014, Kornbluth has served as the chief academic officer of one of the nation’s leading research universities. She oversees Duke’s 10 schools and six institutes, and holds ultimate responsibility for admissions, financial aid, libraries among other facets of education.

Kornbluth’s election as MIT’s president is the culmination of an eight-month process in which a 20-member presidential search committee generated a list of approximately 250 possible candidates.

She earned her BA in political science from Williams College in 1982, followed by two years at Cambridge University as a Hershel Smith Scholar, where she earned a BA in genetics. She returned to the U.S. to pursue a PhD in molecular oncology at Rockefeller University, awarded in 1989, and took postdoctoral training at the University of California at San Diego. She joined the Duke faculty in 1994.

She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.