Susan Whitehead

Susan Whitehead is a founding and life trustee of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and a life trustee of MIT.  She currently chairs MIT’s Visiting Committee for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (and formerly chaired the Visiting Committees of Biological Engineering, and the Institute of Medical Engineering and Science).  Whitehead has served in a variety of significant leadership roles at MIT for well over 20 years, as well as numerous other organizations.  Currently, she serves on the board of the ACLU of Massachusetts, Berklee College of Music and the Foundation Board of the Museum of Art and Photography (Bangalore).

Whitehead was formerly a trial attorney in Boston and also has experience as an assistant district attorney in New York City. She directed a clinical program at Brooklyn Law School; worked for the ACLU in Jackson, Mississippi; and founded a comprehensive education program for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Throughout the last 40 years Whitehead has served in leadership positions on numerous boards – from child development groups, social justice, higher education and the arts.  Whitehead received her JD from Cardozo School of Law in 1982 and her BS from Cornell University in 1976.