Dr. Robert A. Harrington, Arthur L. Bloomfield Professor of Medicine and chair of the department of medicine at Stanford University, has been selected as Cornell’s Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine and provost for medical affairs, the University announced Thursday.
Harrington’s position will begin on Sept. 12. Until then, Dr. Francis Lee, psychiatry, will remain as the current interim dean and provost for medical affairs — a position which he has held since January — according to the University’s press release.
A cardiologist by trade, Harrington most recently served as the chair of Stanford’s department of medicine, the largest division at Stanford’s college of medicine, and has also served as the chair of Duke University’s clinical research institute. He is a member of the American Heart Association’s board of directors, for which he served as its 83rd president in 2019-20. He is a recipient of the 2017 AHA clinical research prize and the 2022 Irish Cardiac Society Stokes Medal.
Harrington grew up in Somerville, Massachusetts. As a first-generation college student, he received his bachelor’s degree in English from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. He then attended Dartmouth Medical School and received his M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine. Following his graduation from medical school, he trained in cardiology, interventional cardiology and clinical research at Duke, where he served on the faculty before joining Stanford’s faculty in 2012.
Harrington was unable to be reached for comment by the time of publication.