School of Medicine Commencement

Leach is a professor of molecular and systems biology, surgery and medicine at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, where he also serves as the Preston T. and Virginia R. Kelsey Distinguished Chair in Cancer, associate dean for cancer programs and director of the Dartmouth Cancer Center. His research laboratory is known for establishing important links between pancreatic development and pancreatic cancer, using both mouse and zebrafish model systems. He has a long track record of successful mentorship of undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral research fellows and junior faculty. At Dartmouth, Leach has also been a champion in promoting diversity and inclusive excellence, having received the Geisel School of Medicine’s 2025 Martin Luther King, Jr. Legacy Award. He has been inducted as both a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science as a member of the National Academy of Medicine.