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Robert L. Barchi, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Robert L. Barchi became the fourth president of Thomas Jefferson University on September 1, 2004. Prior to coming to Jefferson, Dr. Barchi was Provost of the University of Pennsylvania. As the chief academic officer, Dr. Barchi was responsible for the oversight of Penn ’s 12 schools and its research enterprise, academic policies and student activities.

Dr. Barchi received bachelor and master of science degrees from Georgetown University, as well as a doctor of philosophy degree and a doctor of medicine degree, both from the University of Pennsylvania. He joined Penn’s faculty in 1973, and became the first David Mahoney Professor of Neurological Sciences in 1983. In 2004, Dr. Barchi was named the Fairhill Professor of Medicine, one of the oldest endowed chairs at that University.

President Barchi directed the Mahoney Institute of Neurological Sciences at Penn for more than 12 years. He chaired Penn ’s Graduate Group in Neuroscience and played a key role in the establishment of the Department of Neuroscience, which he chaired from 1992 to 1999. Dr. Barchi became chairman of the Department of Neurology in 1995 and chaired both departments until assuming the role of Provost in 1999. He has also served as Vice Dean for Research in the School of Medicine.

Dr. Barchi ’s research on the structure and function of voltage-gated ion channels has put him at the forefront of important multidisciplinary advances in basic neuroscience research, medical education, and clinical neurology. Dr. Barchi is the author of more than 150 research publications and three books. His co-edited text on the Molecular and Genetic Basis of Neurological Disease is in its third edition.Dr. Barchi is an overseer of the Wistar Institute, a director of Covance, Inc., and is on the medical advisory board of Cephalon, Inc. as well as on the editorial boards of numerous journals in the field of neuroscience and neurology. He also serves on the boards of BioAdvance and the Ben Franklin Technology Partners.

Dr. Barchi was named to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1993. He has also been elected to membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, the College of Physicians, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Among other awards and honors, Dr. Barchi has received the NIH Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award, the Senior Investigator Achievement Award from the American Heart Association, and the Distinguished Alumni Award of Penn ’s School of Medicine, and Penn’s prestigious Lindback Award.