Dr. Melissa L. Gilliam, a physician and higher education leader, will take on the mantle of president of Boston University, effective Jul. 1, 2024. In doing so, she will become BU’s first woman and first Black president.
Dr. Melissa GilliamBoston University Photography
Gilliam, 58, is no stranger to firsts. She is currently executive vice president and provost at The Ohio State University, the first Black to hold that role in the school’s history. There she oversees all aspects of academic affairs, ranging from education to diversity and inclusion.
“What is more frustrating to me is that in this day and age, I am still doing things that are first,” Gilliam said in a BU press release. “That’s a bigger concern, that there’s any trailblazing aspect to what I do. There is so much talent and human potential, I figure in 2023 it should be commonplace. And it just isn’t.”
Gilliam’s career and experience in higher education spans more than a decade, having spent over 16 years at the University of Chicago. There, she served in numerous roles in multiple departments, including as the Ellen H. Block Distinguished Service Professor of Health Justice and vice provost.
With past experience as a pediatrician and gynecologist, she also served as chief of family planning and contraceptive research and leader of the school’s program in gynecology for children, adolescents, and young adults.
A scholar who has authored or coauthored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, Gilliam is founder of UChicago’s Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health (Ci3) and board member for Argonne National Laboratory, a Department of Energy-supported research lab affiliated with UChicago.
