Robert Barchi

Robert L. Barchi was named the 20th president of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, on April 11, 2012. He will begin serving as president of Rutgers University on September 1, 2012. Since 2004, Barchi, a neuroscientist, clinical neurologist, and educator, has served as president of Thomas Jefferson University (TJU) in Philadelphia, nationally regarded as a top university dedicated to health sciences education and research. Prior to Jefferson, he was provost and chief academic officer of the University of Pennsylvania. Barchi was born in Philadelphia but spent his formative years not far from Rutgers in Westfield, N.J. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Georgetown University, and Ph.D. and M.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed specialty training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and holds board certification in neurology. In 1972, Barchi began his academic career as a faculty member at Penn. Within a decade, he rose to become the David Mahoney Professor of Neurological Sciences. Between 1983 and 1996, he served as director of the Mahoney Institute of Neurological Sciences. Barchi is married to Francis Harper Barchi, a senior fellow in the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is engaged in education and research activities relating to international research ethics. Francis Barchi holds a Ph.D. in social welfare, a master’s in bioethics and a master’s in nonprofit leadership from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a bachelor’s degree from Smith College. She is the former executive vice president of the Dana Foundation in New York, a post she assumed following a 20-year span as president of her own company. Robert Barchi, M.D., Ph.D. has been President of Thomas Jefferson University since September 2004. Prior to that, Dr. Barchi was Provost of the University of Pennsylvania since 1999. Previously, he served as Chair of the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Neurology and as founding Chair of the University's Department of Neuroscience. Dr. Barchi was also Director of the Mahoney Institute of Neurological Sciences for more than 12 years and was the Director of the Dana Fellowship Program in Neuroscience and Director of the Clinical Neuroscience Track. He was the founder and President of Penn Neurocare, a regional specialty network. Dr. Barchi has been a member of the Covance Board since October 2003.