J. Larry Jameson is named Penn’s interim president

The University of Pennsylvania has appointed an interim president from within its ranks to lead the school, days after Liz Magill’s resignation.

J. Larry Jameson, executive vice president of Penn’s health system and its medical school dean, has officially been tapped for the position following indications that he was being considered for the job.

Jameson’s appointment comes amid the fallout over Magill’s widely criticized testimony at a congressional hearing on antisemitism last week. During the hearing, Magill said that determining whether calls for Jewish genocide would violate Penn’s code of conduct was “context-dependent.”

Amid the fallout over that comment, both Magill and board chair Scott L. Bok resigned. Bok has been replaced in the interim by Julie Platt, who had been the board’s vice chair.

“Penn is fortunate to have the benefit of Dr. Jameson’s experience and leadership during this time of transition,” Platt said in a statement.

Jameson, 69, Penn’s longest serving current dean, will lead the university until a permanent president is named. In a statement sent to the Penn community, he said that he was honored to serve in the position. He added that, despite challenges the university has faced recently, “every person at Penn should feel safe and be secure in the knowledge that hate has no home here.”

“I have experienced the strength and solidarity that defines this remarkable place,” Jameson wrote. “With respect for one another, support for one another, and adaption to our changing world, Penn can truly lead in this moment, and emerge better and stronger than before.”

A native of Fort Benning, Ga., Jameson received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina in 1976. He earned a medical degree and doctorate in biochemistry from the school in 1981.

Jameson completed his post-graduate medical training at Harvard University’s Massachusetts General Hospital. Following research and clinical fellowships at the school, he was a professor of medicine and chief of endocrinology there.

In 1993, he joined the staff at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, serving as chief of its endocrinology division before being named chair of the department of medicine in 2000. He continued to rise through the ranks at Northwestern, and in 2007 became vice president for medical affairs and dean of medicine.

A prominent molecular endocrinologist, Jameson has written more than 350 scientific articles and chapters, and is editor-in-chief of the clinical medicine text Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, according to his biography on Penn’s website.

In July 2011, Jameson took over as dean of the Perelman School of Medicine, as well as executive vice president of Penn Health. The move was announced in late 2010, with Jameson succeeding the retiring Arthur Rubenstein.

When Jameson was appointed to that role, then-president Amy Gutmann said he had “an unwavering ethical compass and a desire to broadly engage with the entire Penn community.” Jameson, meanwhile, said that Penn Medicine’s approach to integrating clinical, research, and educational programming “represents the future of academic medicine.”

He arrived in Philadelphia following a move from the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, his wife, Michele, said in a 2013 interview with the Gardeners Garden Club. The couple has three children.

As dean of the medical school and executive vice president of Penn Health, Jameson has become known as a strong, thoughtful leader, sources told The Inquirer. He is involved in fundraising and managing faculty.

Earlier this year, when Penn joined Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia in leaving U.S. News & World Report’s medical school rankings, Jameson criticized the standings for relying too heavily on test scores.

“We strive to identify and attract students with a wide array of characteristics that predict promise,” Jameson wrote in a memo to faculty and students. “The careers of transformative physicians, scientists, and leaders reveal the importance of other personal qualities, including creativity, passion, resilience, and empathy.”

In addition, under Jameson’s leadership, Penn’s medical school last year entered a partnership with historically Black colleges and universities in an effort to attract students from racial groups that are underrepresented in the medical field.

Today, Penn’s medical school and health system make up the largest single unit at the university. With $11.1 billion in revenue, the enterprise accounted for more than three-quarters of the university’s total revenue of $14.4 billion last year.

In 2021, Jameson earned a base salary of $4.5 million, with $1.1 million in additional compensation, according to the most recent tax filings.

Staff writers Susan Snyder, Joseph N. DiStefano, Sarah Gantz, and Tom Avril contributed to this article.