Donald Kennedy was president emeritus of Stanford University, the Bing Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, emeritus, and a senior fellow by courtesy at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute.

From 2000 until 2008, Dr. Kennedy served as editor-in-chief of Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. From 1977 to 1979, he was Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Dr. Kennedy’s research focuses on policy regarding trans-boundary environmental problems such as major land-use changes; economically-driven alterations in agricultural practice; global climate change; and the development of regulatory policies.

Dr. Kennedy joined the Stanford faculty in 1960 and was president of the university from 1980 to 1992. Previously at Stanford, he was director of the Program in Human Biology (1973-1977), and chair of the Department of Biology (1964-1972).

Dr. Kennedy was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He served on the National Commission for Public Service and the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology and Government, and was a founding director of the Health Effects Institute. He recently served as a director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and as co-chair of the National Academies’ Project on Science, Technology and Law.

He received AB and PhD degrees in biology from Harvard University.