Dr. Gary Koretzky ’78 has been appointed vice provost for research for Cornell’s Ithaca, Cornell Tech and AgriTech campuses, effective Dec. 15, 2025.

Koretzky came out of retirement in February 2025 to serve as interim vice provost for research, to support Cornell’s investigators and help bolster the university’s research portfolio at a critical time.

“Over this last year, Gary has worked tirelessly to sustain and advance Cornell’s research excellence in countless ways through a time of significant unpredictability in our relations with the federal government,” Provost Kavita Bala said. “We are incredibly grateful for his dedication, experience and steady guidance, and we are delighted that he will continue in this key role.”

Koretzky, professor emeritus of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and microbiology and immunology at the College of Veterinary Medicine, served as vice provost for academic integration from 2017 to 2024. In that position, in addition to fostering research programs between the Weill Cornell Medicine and Ithaca campuses, he helped steer the university through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was honored when Provost Bala asked me to fill in as the interim vice provost for research and am thrilled now to take this on in a permanent capacity,” Koretzky said. “Research at Cornell is world class. Over the past year, I have also come to appreciate the incredible dedication of the staff of the Office of the Vice Provost for Research as they work tirelessly to support our investigators.

“This is a challenging time for academic research,” he said, “and I look forward to working with the provost, the deans, the vice presidents and the other vice provosts to ensure that our office continues to excel at its mission of promoting research across the many disciplines of scholarship on our campuses.”

As vice provost for research, Koretzky oversees research administration for the Ithaca, Roosevelt Island and Geneva, New York, campuses, including more than 30 multidisciplinary research facilities, laboratories, institutes and centers.

In his interim role, Koretzky worked with faculty, staff and university leadership to respond to the many challenges Cornell is facing around the changing landscape of governmental support for research. Under his watch, the Office of the Vice Provost for Research launched programs to help faculty diversify their research portfolios.

In the summer of 2025, he oversaw the renewal of a critical 10-year, $10 million grant award from the Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) and, in collaboration with Cornell’s AI Initiative, supported a new National Science Foundation-funded multi-investigator research program linking artificial intelligence and materials sciences, AI-MI. Koretzky also worked with the Graduate School to develop an expanded Office of Postdoctoral Affairs that will launch in January.

Koretzky previously served as dean of the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences and vice dean of research for Weill Cornell Medicine. After relocating to Ithaca as vice provost for academic integration, he established programs that resulted in more than $50 million in funding for partnerships between Ithaca campus and Weill Cornell Medicine researchers. He also served as the founding director of the Cornell Center for Immunology, which brings together researchers across the Ithaca and New York City campuses.

Koretzky  received both his medical degree and doctorate in immunology in 1984 from the University of Pennsylvania. After his residency and fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco,  Koretzky joined the faculty  of the University of Iowa  for eight years. Starting in 1999, he was a professor of  pathology and laboratory medicine, then vice chair for research, in the Department of Medicine  at  the Perelman School of Medicine,  University of Pennsylvania. He joined Weill Cornell Medicine in 2013. 

Koretzky served as president of the American Association of Immunologists from 2021-22 and received its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024. He has also served as president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, as well as the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.