Gita Gopinath, an Indian-American economist and the first Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has announced that she will return to Harvard University to teach economics.
Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter), Gopinath, the first woman Chief Economist in IMF history announced, "After nearly 7 amazing years at the IMF, I have decided to return to my academic roots."
Gopinath will return to the Harvard Economics Department on September 1 as the first Gregory and Ania Coffey Professor of Economics.
She stated that she is "truly grateful" for her tenure at the IMF, where she was first chief economist and later first deputy managing director, describing it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to serve the IMF's membership during a moment of extraordinary challenges, The Telegraph reports.
"I now return to my roots in academia, where I look forward to continuing to push the research frontier in international finance and macroeconomics to address global challenges, and to training the next generation of economists," she said.
Gopinath joined the IMF as Chief Economist in January 2019 and was promoted to the position of First Deputy Managing Director in January 2022.
Gopinath previously served as the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University's economics department (2005-22), as well as an assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business (2001-2005).
She oversaw the IMF's multilateral surveillance and analysis of fiscal and monetary policy, debt, and international trade. As a major member of the IMF's senior leadership team, she represented the organisation in numerous global bodies, including the G-7 and G-20.
She also co-authored the Pandemic Plan for resolving the COVID-19 problem, which has been widely praised for filling a major worldwide need by establishing targets to vaccinate the world at a reasonable cost.
