University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne started his tenure as Stanford’s 11th president on Thursday, Sept. 1, taking over for former university president John Hennessy.

Tessier-Lavigne, a former faculty member, is a leading neuroscientist who focused on research of neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s Disease. His ground-breaking research has earned him many prestigious honors, including membership in the National Academy of Sciences and a fellowship in the UK’s Royal Society.

Outside of academia, Tessier-Lavigne worked at Genentech as its Executive Vice President for Research in 2003. Following this, Tessier-Lavigne served as the President of Rockefeller University, an institute famous for its research within the fundamental sciences and biomedicine. Tessier-Lavigne has also served in various other capacities, such as on the Board of Directors of Agios Pharmas, an American company developing anti-cancer therapies. He recently resigned from that position to focus on his presidency at Stanford, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.

During his first day in office, Tessier-Lavigne sent a brief message to the Stanford community. The new president described how impressed he was by the Stanford community and affirmed that his role as president would be to help the Stanford community “advance justice, peace and understanding around the world and on our campus.” Furthermore, Tessier-Lavigne shared his main orders of business: appointing a new provost and soliciting ideas from the Stanford community. Provost John Etchemendy will stay on through the fall until a new provost takes over in January.

Tessier-Lavigne also announced that his inaugural address will be conducted on Oct. 21, the weekend of homecoming.

Contact Christina Pan at capan ‘at’ stanford.edu.