Donald Kennedy

Donald Kennedy
Eighth President of Stanford University
Term	August 1, 1980 – September 1, 1992
Predecessor	Richard W. Lyman
Successor	Gerhard Casper
Born	(1931-08-18) August 18, 1931 New York City, New York
Alma mater	Harvard University
Residence	Palo Alto, California
Profession	Professor, Journalist, Scientist
Spouse	Robin Kennedy
Children	Page Kennedy, Julia Tussing, Cameron Kennedy, Jamie Hamill

Donald Kennedy (born August 18, 1931)^[1] is an American scientist, public administrator and academic. He is most widely known for his service as Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (1977-1979), President of Stanford University (1980-1992), and Editor-in-Chief of Science Magazine (2000-2008).

Donald Kennedy was born in New York and educated at Harvard University (A.B.; Ph.D., Biology, 1956).^[2][3] He has spent most of his professional career at Stanford University, which he joined as a faculty member in 1960 and where he was chair of the Department of Biology from 1964–1972, then director of the Program in Human Biology from 1973-1977.^[2][3] Kennedy is on the board of directors of the Lucile and David Packard Foundation.

For 26 months he served as Commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration during the Carter Administration. Having been appointed by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Joseph Califano, in April 1977, in the next two-plus years Kennedy and the FDA dealt with issues such as the fallout from the attempt to ban saccharin and worked on provisions of the proposed Drug Regulation Reform Act of 1978.^[3]

After stepping down from the FDA in June 1979, Kennedy returned to Stanford where he served as provost.^[3] In 1980 he became president of Stanford University and served in that position until 1992, ^[2] when he resigned following congressional hearings over whether the university improperly billed the government for research expense. He remained at Stanford, still widely admired for accomplishments during his tenure including, among other things, improving undergraduate education and attracting more minority students and faculty members. From 2000 until 2008, he was editor-in-chief of Science,^[2] the prestigious weekly published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (replaced by Bruce Alberts).

In 2010 he received Wonderfest's Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization.^[4]

According to his Stanford biography, Kennedy's present research interests relate to "policy on such trans-boundary environmental problems as: major land-use changes; economically-driven alterations in agricultural practice; global climate change; beyond coal; and alternative energy sources."^[2]. He is now President Emeritus of Stanford University; Bing Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, Emeritus and Senior Fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, by courtesy.

References

v t e Commissioners of Food and Drugs Harvey W. Wiley Carl L. Alsberg Charles A. Browne Walter G. Campbell Paul P. Dunbar Charles W. Crawford George P. Larrick James L. Goddard Herbert L. Ley Charles C. Edwards Alexander M. Schmidt Donald Kennedy Jere E. Goyan Arthur H. Hayes Jr. Frank Edward Young David Aaron Kessler Jane E. Henney Mark McClellan Lester Crawford Andrew von Eschenbach Margaret A. Hamburg