Reimagining Cornell
Erasing the deficit and enhancing Cornell's excellence through thoughtful and imaginative change.
David J. Skorton
David J. Skorton became Cornell University's 12th president on July 1, 2006. He holds faculty appointments as professor in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City and in Biomedical Engineering at the College of Engineering on Cornell's Ithaca campus. He is also chair of the Business-Higher Education Forum, an independent, non-profit organization of Fortune 500 CEOs, leaders of colleges and universities, and foundation executives; life member of the Council on Foreign Relations; and co-chair of the advisory board for the Africa-U.S. Higher Education Initiative.
Cornell University President David J. Skorton
A seasoned administrator, board-certified cardiologist, biomedical researcher, musician, and advocate for the arts and humanities, President Skorton aims to make Cornell a model combination of academic distinction and public service.
Reflecting his personal commitment to diversity, President Skorton established and co-chairs, with Cornell Provost W. Kent Fuchs, the University Diversity Council. He serves as a house fellow at the Carl Becker House, one of the West Campus residential houses for continuing students. He also writes a monthly column for the Cornell Daily Sun and a bi-monthly column for the Cornell Alumni Magazine.
Before coming to Cornell, President Skorton was president of the University of Iowa (UI) for three years, beginning in March 2003, and a faculty member at UI for 26 years. Co-founder and co-director of the UI Adolescent and Adult Congenital Heart Disease Clinic at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, President Skorton has focused his research on congenital heart disease in adolescents and adults, cardiac imaging, and computer image processing. He has published numerous articles, reviews, book chapters, and two major texts in the areas of cardiac imaging and image processing.
A national leader in research ethics, President Skorton is charter past-president of the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc., the first entity organized specifically to accredit human research protection programs. He has served on the boards and committees of many other national organizations, including the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, the American Society of Echocardiography, the Association of American Universities, the Council on Competitiveness, and the Korea America Friendship Society. He has traveled widely in Europe and Asia on behalf of both academic and community projects, and he engages in service to the community, and particularly in regional and state economic development, as a member of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Development Association of Syracuse and Central New York, Inc.
President Skorton earned his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1970 and an M.D. in 1974, both from Northwestern University. He completed his medical residency and held a fellowship in cardiology at The University of California, Los Angeles.