Hopi Hoekstra, Ph.D.

Hoekstra is the Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and a professor in organismic and molecular biology at Harvard University. She previously served as the curator of mammals at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. Her research focuses on the genetic basis of adaptation — from morphology to behavior — in vertebrates, including wild mice.

Hoekstra holds a B.A. in integrative biology from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington. Before stepping into her role as dean at Harvard, she was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the National Academy of Sciences. She previously served on the advisory board of Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent publication of the Simons Foundation.