Michael Kotlikoff

Notable work and positions

Cornell University — President (2025– ); Interim President (2024–2025); Provost (2015–2024)
Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine — Former Dean (2007–2015)

Biography

Michael I. Kotlikoff is the 15th president of Cornell University, appointed by the Board of Trustees on March 21, 2025, following eight months as interim president. He is a biomedical researcher and veterinarian whose academic research on cardiovascular biology, optogenetics, and ion channel function has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1986. He received a B.A. in literature (1973) and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (1981) from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in physiology from the University of California, Davis (1984). He was recruited to Cornell in 2000 as founding chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences, served as the Austin O. Hooey Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine from 2007 to 2015, and became Cornell's longest-serving provost, holding that office from August 2015 to June 2024. As provost, he oversaw the creation of the Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, and the SC Johnson College of Business, and led the university's Radical Collaboration strategic initiative. He served as Cornell's acting president in 2016 following the death of President Elizabeth Garrett. In April 2026, a confrontation between Kotlikoff and pro-Palestinian student protesters, in which his car struck a protester, prompted a Cornell Board of Trustees investigation; the board's ad hoc committee concluded he would not be penalized.