Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim told students at his inauguration in Hanover yesterday that they will achieve far greater success than he has as a leader in the global fight against HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

Kim, the first Asian-American to lead an Ivy League school, took over the Dartmouth presidency from James Wright in July.

He is a former director of the World Health Organization's HIV/AIDS department, helped found Partners in Health to support health programs in poor communities worldwide and came to Dartmouth from Harvard Medical School, where he was chairman of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine.

"I spent most of my adult life trying to tackle social problems around the world," he said. "I came to Dartmouth because I am convinced that the those of you gathered here today will achieve far more than I ever could."

Speaking at an outdoor ceremony under cloudy skies, Kim said Dartmouth education must combine a passionate commitment to making the world a better place with a practical understanding of the complex systems required to deliver solutions on a global scale. He said that's what his dentist father and philosopher mother told him - to keep his feet on the ground, but shoot for the stars. Kim was born in South Korea and moved to Iowa at age 5.

"Through 25 years of working to help improve health in some of the poorest communities in the world, what has become clear to me is that delivering on ambitious social justice movements," he said. "It requires building and implementing systems that can deliver sustainable solutions."

He told reporters later that he expects Dartmouth, particularly through its Institute for Health and Policy, to play a key role in the national debate over health care reform, and that he would like to make health care part of every undergraduate's studies, something he said no other university has done.

"If they do it, I think they do it on the basis of preprofessional education, but that's not what I'm talking about," he said. "I'm talking about health care looked at from the perspective of very fundamental issues."

Given how much money they will spend on health care for the rest of their lives, all Dartmouth students should graduate with an understanding of health and health care, he said.

"It's almost like a citizenship course. I think if we want to create great citizens of the United States and the world, I think it would be a mistake and a disappointment if we didn't teach them about health care," he said.

In his inaugural speech, Kim urged students to remember what he called "the four P's": "Find your passion, be persistent in achieving mastery, pursue knowledge in the way that works best for you and embrace the planet's problems, because no one will be more prepared to fix them than you."

Cameron Nutt, a junior from Los Angeles, said he is majoring in medical anthropology in large part because of his admiration for Kim. He said he was thrilled at Kim's appointment and said he hopes it will lead to an expansion of Dartmouth's global health program.

"I think with his encouragement, guidance and vision, we can really have a chance to do something special," he said.

A large group of Kim's family attended the ceremony, including his mother, wife, two young sons and siblings. His sister, Heidi Kim, sang "Take Care of This House," composed in 1976 by Leonard Bernstein for a musical about the history of the White House.

Representatives from close to 130 colleges and universities also attended, and several of Kim's former colleagues paid tribute to his vision and work ethic.

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