Robert Elliot Pollack (born September 2, 1940) is an American academic, administrator, biologist, and philosopher, who served as a long-time Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University.

He was a senior staff scientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for nearly a decade, before becoming Associate Professor of Microbiology at Stony Brook University in 1975.

Pollack has been credited as the father of reversion therapy, for his observation that cancer cells infected with different types of viruses could revert to non-oncogenic phenotypes.

As the first Jewish Dean of an Ivy League institution, Pollack faced significant fundraising challenges, the AIDS epidemic, and conflict surrounding the issue of South African divestment.

He ultimately converted the Research Cluster on Science and Subjectivity to an institution promoting undergraduates, encouraging a legacy of student-centered innovation.

[17] Graduating with a PhD in Biology from Brandeis University in 1966, he spent sixteen years as a research scientist, completing postdoctoral work at both N.Y.U.

[34][35] In 1983, Pollack awarded an honorary degree to Isaac Asimov, who had been forced due to racial quotas to attend Seth Low Junior College, later folded into the Columbia University School of General Studies.

[40] In 1989, Pollack applied for and received a one million dollar grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, aimed at enhancing undergraduate science education and community outreach, which ensured long-term financial support for the Rabi Scholars program.

[51][52] A contemporary editorial by the Managing Board of the Columbia Daily Spectator noted that: "College Dean Robert Pollack is clinging to his guarantee of housing for all freshmen like a mother bear to its threatened cub.

[55] He successfully convinced Morris Schapiro to donate an addition two million dollars to fund a student center for the arts in the basement of this dorm.

[57] In the face of significant financial constraints,[58][59][60] Pollack vigorously and successfully defended Columbia College's need-blind admissions policy with alumni donations.

[88] Although Pollack strongly defended the committee's work,[89] student activists continued to push for total divestment, organizing a fast[90] and protest simultaneously,[91] blockading the entrance to Hamilton Hall for three weeks.

[97][98][99] In order to fund the educational programs recommended by the Pollack Report, the University received a one million dollar grant in 1986 from the Ford Foundation to support interdisciplinary courses in human rights.

[117][118] In response, Pollack released a report regarding the March 22nd fight, charging junior Drew Krause with racial harassment and suspending him for one semester.

[128][129] Four days after the March 22nd fight, the African-American studies proposal was brought before the committee on instruction with Pollack's approval, and ratified by the faculty nearly a month afterwards.

[133] Over the course of the Fall, 1987 semester, Pollack developed a plan to use a 25 million dollar donation from John Kluge to encourage graduate studies for underrepresented groups.

[136] The committee provided fourteen recommendations, accepted by Pollack, including an investment in the Columbia University Double Discovery Center along with increased hiring of minority faculty.

[165] The Missing Moment ultimately critiques the biomedical field's tendency to overlook human needs by operating within a paradigm that denies personal mortality.

[170] He participated in a 2003 interview with Robert Wright, underscoring Pollack's approach to finding balance and meaning at the intersection between scientific inquiry and spiritual belief.

[172] From 2011 to 2019, Pollack concurrently served as the Director of the Columbia University seminars, a movement fostering interdisciplinary conversations between academics, founded by Frank Tannenbaum.

[181] He continues to serve on the advisory board of the RCSS and as an executive committee member for the Columbia University Center for Science and Society.

[182][183] As a research scientist in Nobel Laureate James Watson's laboratory,[184] Pollack taught a yearly summer course on animal cells and viruses.

[185] In 1971, his class heard a presentation from Janet Mertz, then a graduate student in the laboratory of Paul Berg, who proposed an experiment cloning SV40 genes from monkeys into bacteria.

[190] In 1973, a conference was held at Asilomar, with Pollack editing the proceedings into a book entitled Biohazards in biological research, specifically identifying the necessary experiments to deem recombinant DNA technologies safe.

[201][202][203] To accomplish this goal, Pollack, alongside Herbert Goldstein and Jonathon Gross, developed a course entitled the Theory and Practice of Science, aimed at providing scientific literacy to the general student population, funded by a $30,000 grant from the Exxon Mobil Foundation along with an anonymous $30,000 donation, later revealed to be a personal donation from Columbia University President Michael Sovern.

[204][205][206] Based on a belief that fundamental scientific papers double as literary masterpieces,[207] Pollack's portion of the course was organized around key publications in biochemistry, evolution, and genetics.

[210] Although the course was taught for at least fourteen years,[211] it failed enter the core curriculum, due to concerns regarding the breadth of technical concepts within the discussed works.

[230] In addition to his academic and administrative positions, Pollack has written many articles and books on diverse subjects, ranging from laboratory science to religious ethics.