After moving from Harvard Medical School in 1960, Magasanik spent the rest of his research career at MIT, including an influential decade as the head of the Department of Biology from 1967–77.
As Magasanik later recalled, other recent chemistry graduates of the period were able to find jobs in the defense industry, but as he was not yet eligible for American citizenship, he was instead drafted into the army and ultimately spent four years serving as a medical technician.
His leadership during this period, especially in decision-making about new faculty hires, has been widely cited as contributing to the success of the department in the molecular biology field.
[4][5] After being succeeded by Gene Brown as department head, Magasanik concentrated on research and teaching rather than administrative work until his retirement in 1990, when he became professor emeritus.
[2] In 1969, Magasanik became a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, from which he received the Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology in 1993.