Anne Klibanski

Anne Klibanski (born 1951) is an American endocrinologist and the Laurie Carrol Guthart Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She has been president and CEO of Mass General Brigham since 2019, becoming the first woman to lead the health system, Massachusetts's largest private employer. Before taking on the role, she spent decades on the faculty of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where her research on hypopituitarism, pituitary tumors, and metabolic bone disease made her, in 1997, the first woman from MGH's Department of Medicine to be named a professor of medicine at Harvard.

As CEO, Klibanski's multimillion-dollar compensation has repeatedly drawn press scrutiny and criticism amid broader debate over executive pay in nonprofit healthcare. Her pay became a point of contention during 2025–2026 labor disputes between the health system and its nurses and resident physicians, including a July 2026 strike by Brigham and Women's Hospital nurses described as the largest nursing walkout in Massachusetts history.

Early life and education Klibanski studied literature at Barnard College before earning a medical degree in 1975 from the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University (NYU). She completed an internal medicine residency at New York University in 1978, and completed fellowships in endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1981.

Career

Academic and research career Klibanski became chief of the Neuroendocrine Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, studying hormones and neuroendocrinology with a focus on hypopituitarism and pituitary tumors. Her clinical research has also examined the effects of hypothalamic and pituitary disorders on body composition and bone density, including bone loss associated with anorexia nervosa and growth hormone deficiency. In 1997, Klibanski became the first woman from Mass General's Department of Medicine to become a professor of medicine at Harvard.

She has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters and has received the Endocrine Society Clinical Investigator Award and the Clinical Endocrinology Trust Medal from the Society for Endocrinology. Klibanski has served on the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Board of Counselors and the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, and is a past president of the Pituitary Society. After being named interim president and chief executive officer in February 2019, she was appointed president and CEO in June 2019, becoming the first woman to lead Massachusetts's largest private employer.

Klibanski serves as Harvard's academic dean for Mass General Brigham and is an ex officio member of its board. She also serves on the executive committee of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and on the board of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership. In January 2026, Klibanski was elected Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association (MHA).

Controversies

Executive compensation Klibanski's compensation as CEO of Mass General Brigham has repeatedly drawn press coverage and criticism as part of broader debate over executive pay in nonprofit healthcare. Mass General Brigham said her compensation ranked in the bottom third among chief executives of comparable nonprofit health systems nationally. Role in protests and strikes In March 2025, resident physicians and attending physicians picketed outside Massachusetts General Hospital, citing understaffing following layoffs carried out as part of a system-wide restructuring at Mass General Brigham. Klibanski said the decision had been reached by clinical, academic and administrative leaders across the system, and that the changes were intended to improve efficiency and preserve resources for patient care and future investment.

In July 2026, approximately 4,000 Brigham and Women’s Hospital nurses went on strike amid a contract dispute with Mass General Brigham over pay, staffing, and health insurance costs, the largest nursing strike in Massachusetts history. Klibanski's compensation was among the grievances cited by the Massachusetts Nurses Association during the dispute, which pointed to her high executive pay as emblematic of the union's objections to hospital wage offers. Klibanski did not participate directly in bargaining sessions, which were instead handled by board representatives.

Books Prolactin Disorders: From Basic Science to Clinical Management (Springer Publishing, 2019) Neuroendocrine Consequences of Anorexia Nervosa in Adolescents (Chapter 14) of Pediatric Neuroendocrinology (Karger, 2009)