I have been truly blessed by a career that was unpredicted and I think probably unpredictable. In retrospect, it kind of makes sense, but there are many things that I love about it. The first is an unbounded curiosity addressed by unbounded possibility. And it's been wonderful to actually be able to basically have my finger on the pulse of these extraordinary American universities. They are remarkable places full of ideas and ambition, so that's been really, probably the most exciting thing is the people. The people and their ideas. What a blessing. The other is, I never, it's crazy that I would remember this right now. I think I was in fifth grade or sixth grade or something like that. And I was having a hard time figuring out who my friend group was, and I was talking to my mother about it and she said, well, you should start your own group. And I said, I can't do that. She said, of course you can. You're a leader. Had never occurred to me that I was a leader, but my mother somehow imagined it or saw it.

I feel so blessed. What an amazing gift to have been able to live a life that I never predicted. I never dreamed of. I mean, how fantastic is it to be in these communities and be able to offer whatever skills I have to help other people achieve their ambitions? I mean, how cool is that to find out what the hopes and dreams are and say, well, let's work on that and create a sense of possibility to get people to look forward rather than just at the present. It's been incredibly exciting and of course I've met people I would never have met and had experiences. I would never have had to be in a world I could never have imagined.

Susan Hockfield is a neuroscientist whose research focuses on brain development and glioma, pioneering the use of monoclonal antibody technology demonstrating that early experience results in lasting changes in the molecular structure of the brain. She is a Professor of Neuroscience and President Emerita at MIT. She was the first woman and life scientist to serve as MIT’s sixteenth president from 2004-2012.

Hockfield earned her B.A. in biology from the University of Rochester (1973) and a Ph.D. from Georgetown University at the School of Medicine (1979). In 1980, Hockfield completed an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at San Francisco. She then joined the scientific staff at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York where she ran her own lab for five years. She also served as director of the Summer Neurobiology Program from 1985 to 1997. In 1985, Hockfield became the William Edward Gilbert Professor of Neurobiology at Yale University. She went on to serve as the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences from 1998-2002, and Provost from 2003-2004.

In December 2004, Hockfield assumed office as the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She held this role until June 2012 and continues to hold a faculty appointment as professor of neuroscience and as a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.

Hockfield has received numerous awards including the Charles Judson Herrick Award from the American Association of Anatomists, the Wilbur Lucius Cross Award from the Yale University Graduate School, the Meliora Citation from the University of Rochester, the Amelia Earhart Award from the Women’s Union, and the Yale Science and Engineering Association 2021 Award for Distinguished Service to Industry, Commerce or Education.

She also holds honorary degrees from Brown University, Duke University, Georgetown University, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York University, Northeastern University, Tsinghua University (Beijing), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, University of Edinburgh, University of Massachusetts Medical School, University of Rochester, and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory School of Biological Sciences.