Robert L. Barchi

Robert Lawrence Barchi (born November 23, 1946) is the 20th and current President of Rutgers University, having taken office on September 1, 2012. Barchi was appointed to the position on April 11, 2012, to succeed Richard L. McCormick. Previously, Barchi was president of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, prior to which he was provost of the University of Pennsylvania.
Barchi is a board-certified neurologist. He earned his BSc degree from Georgetown University in 1968, a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972, and an MD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1973. Born in Philadelphia, Barchi grew up in Westfield, New Jersey, before moving back to Philadelphia during his freshman year of high school, attending St. Joseph's Preparatory School.
Barchi's appointment came as Rutgers was preparing to absorb most of the schools, programs and facilities of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey following the approval of a merger proposal by the New Jersey Legislature and the Governor of New Jersey during the summer of 2012.

Robert Lawrence Barchi was born on November 23, 1946, in Philadelphia. He was raised in Westfield, New Jersey. He earned a BSc and a MS at Georgetown University and a PhD and a MD at the University of Pennsylvania. He trained in neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He was part of the Medical Scientist Training Program.

Barchi began as an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania. By 1985, he was the David Mahoney Professor of Neurological Sciences. He served as director of the Mahoney Institute of Neurological Sciences from 1983 to 1996. In 1992, Barchi became the chairman of Neuroscience at the Perelman School of Medicine, a department that he had founded. He led Neurology from 1995 to 1999.

Barchi's research in neuroscience and neurology has been supported by National Institutes of Health. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine, American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Association of American Physicians. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Neurological Association, and the American Academy of Neurology. He has won the Jacob K. Javits Award from NIH.

He was provost of the University of Pennsylvania from 1999 to 2004. Barchi served as president of Thomas Jefferson University from 2004 to 2012. Since 2012, he is the 20th and current President of Rutgers University.

Barchi is married to Francis Harper Barchi, an academic on faculty at the Rutgers School of Social Work. Barchi is an authority on timepieces, with a special interest in their history and mechanical development. He has four adult children, Jonathan, Millan, Jennifer, and Faris, and a dog.