WASHINGTON — The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) today announced the election of 90 regular members and 10 international members during its annual meeting. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.
“I am deeply honored to welcome these extraordinary health and medicine leaders and researchers into the National Academy of Medicine,” said NAM President Victor J. Dzau. “Their demonstrated excellence in tackling public health challenges, leading major discoveries, improving health care, advancing health policy, and addressing health equity will critically strengthen our collective ability to tackle the most pressing health challenges of our time.”
New members are elected by current members through a process that recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health. A diversity of talent among NAM’s membership is assured by its Articles of Organization, which stipulate that at least one-quarter of the membership is selected from fields outside the health professions — for example, from such fields as law, engineering, social sciences, and the humanities. The newly elected members bring NAM’s total membership to more than 2,500, which includes more than 200 international members.
Established originally as the Institute of Medicine in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine addresses critical issues in health, science, medicine, and related policy and inspires positive actions across sectors. NAM works alongside the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine also encourage education and research, recognize outstanding contributions to knowledge, and increase public understanding of STEMM. With their election, NAM members make a commitment to volunteer their service in National Academies activities.
Newly elected regular members of the National Academy of Medicine and their election citations are:
Omar Abdel-Wahab, MD, chair, pharmacology program, Department of Medicine, Sloan Kettering Institute, New York City. For being a pioneer in uncovering genetic causes for diverse forms of blood cancers and utilizing this information to develop therapeutic approaches to transform clinical care. His laboratory has made pivotal insights into BTK inhibitor resistance mechanisms and the role of RNA splicing factor mutations in leukemogenesis.
Mohammed K. Ali, MD, MSc, MBA, William H. Foege Distinguished Professor of Global Health; director, Emory Global Diabetes Research Center; and professor, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta. For leading groundbreaking surveillance of national and international diabetes quality of care, and research translating community, clinical, and policy innovations to improve diabetes care and preventive services. His pioneering scientific contributions have shaped global diabetes targets, visualization of care and preventive service gaps, and inspired scale-up efforts in multiple countries.
Andrea A. Anderson, MD, MEd, associate professor, Division of Family Medicine, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC. For being an academic family medicine leader in care of the underserved. She chaired the American Board of Family Medicine and has led national medical student assessment committees, the Federation of State Medical Boards, and other organizations spearheading national standards for professionalism, assessment, professional regulation, certification, and combatting misinformation. Locally she was a longtime advocate for a new academic family medicine department at GWU and is participating in its development.
Aline Andres, PhD, RD, CLC, professor and chief, Section of Developmental Nutrition, Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; and project leader, Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center, Little Rock. For providing global leadership in defining how exposures during pregnancy and lactation affect maternal-child outcomes. Her rigorously conducted randomized controlled trials of diet and lifestyle interventions in pregnant and lactating women have established causal relationships underlying pregnancy outcomes, milk composition, and programming of metabolic health.
Euan A. Ashley, MBChB, DPhil, chair and professor of medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California. For helping to lay the foundation for the use of the human genome in medicine. He received the American Heart Association Medal of Honor, a Guggenheim award, and was recognized by the Obama administration for his contributions to personalized medicine.
Wanda Barfield, MD, MPH, FAAP, director, Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta. For leadership over federal public health programs on reproductive health, resulting in near-nationwide implementation of maternal mortality review committees, increased timeliness and availability of national pregnancy and infant health surveillance data, reporting annually on population data on Sudden Unexpected Infant Death, and decreasing health disparities through state perinatal quality collaboratives implementing hospital and community initiatives.
Joseph T. Bass, MD, PhD, Charles F. Kettering Professor of Medicine and chief, Division of Endocrinology, Molecular Medicine, and Metabolism, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago. For his foundational studies that opened the field of circadian mechanisms in metabolic health and disease. His discovery that clock gene mutations lead to obesity, beta-cell failure, and metabolic syndrome have transformed our understanding of how circadian cycles control energy balance and the pathologies tied to shift work, sleep loss, and night-eating.
Sian Leah Beilock, PhD, president, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. For carving out a novel and creative research program in her investigations of skill learning and performance, fundamentally advancing the understanding of how anxiety and high-pressure situations compromise the performance of complex skills such as test taking, public speaking, and people working together.
Gail E. Besner, MD, H. William Clatworthy Jr. Professor of Surgery, Ohio State University; and Allen Distinguished Scholar in Pediatric Research and principal investigator, Center for Perinatal Research, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio. For being an internationally renowned expert on novel therapeutics to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis since her seminal discovery of heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor (1990). Her pioneering research on administering probiotics in their biofilm state to protect the intestines and brain has progressed to a recently completed first-in-human FDA-approved Phase 1 clinical trial.
Gerd A. Blobel, MD, PhD, Frank E. Weise III Professor of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and co-director of Penn Epigenetics Institute, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. For discovering mechanisms of globin gene regulation and developing tools to treat hemoglobinopathies; elucidating the spatial organization of chromosomes and factors controlling it; innovative research on gene regulatory elements; and discovering principles of how epigenetic information is propagated through the cell division cycle.
Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, vice president for health sciences and dean, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo; and president and chief executive officer, UBMD Physicians Group, Buffalo, New York. For being a values-oriented, mission-driven leader in medicine who throughout her exemplary career has championed diversity in health care, advances in innovative research, and reimagined how academic medicine improves the health of our communities.
Martina Brueckner, MD, professor of pediatrics (cardiology) and genetics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut. For her work in discovering that a ciliary dynein was essential for development of vertebrate left-right (LR) asymmetry; identifying that both motile and immotile cilia at the conserved embryonic organizer are required to create LR asymmetry; identifying a novel paradigm for embryonic axis formation; and discovering a genetic cause for ~40% of congenital heart disease.
John C. Byrd, MD, director, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center; and associate vice chancellor for cancer affairs, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh. For his work in effectively demonstrating non-oncogene addiction as an effective cancer strategy through the preclinical and clinical development of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitors ibrutinib and acalabrutinib that changed chronic lymphocytic leukemia from a fatal disease to one that now has a natural life expectancy.
Peter A. Calabresi, MD, professor and chair, Department of Neurological Sciences, Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington. For being an international thought leader in multiple sclerosis (MS) pathogenesis and therapies. His innovative work on the anterior visual pathway using optical coherence tomography for diagnosis, clinical prognosis, and for pathogenesis research, has highlighted progressive retinal neurodegeneration as an ongoing but treatable feature of MS.
David M. Carlisle, MD, PhD, president, chief executive officer, and professor of medicine and public health, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles. For successfully integrating three separate colleges (medicine, health sciences, nursing) into a single university focused on social justice and health equity for underserved populations. He skillfully guided the university’s College of Medicine to achieving preliminary accreditation status as an independent four-year medical program, enrolling its first class in 2023.
S. Thomas Carmichael Jr., MD, PhD, professor and chair, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles. For publishing high-impact work in brain repair in neurological disease identifying new molecular processes, and translating these laboratory findings to clinical trials. He has led and published in allied fields of science and academic medicine administration and physician-scientist training.
Cameron S. Carter, MD, professor, psychiatry and human behavior, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California, Irvine. For his fundamental contributions to our understanding of the role of the prefrontal cortex in supporting human higher cognitive functions and his pioneering contributions to characterizing how prefrontal cortical pathology contributes to the clinical features of schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric disorders.
Christopher S. Chen, MD, PhD, William F. Warren Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Boston University; and member, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston. For pioneering contributions and leadership in cell and tissue engineering, particularly in the micro-nano-bio engineering of cell and tissue assembly, structure, mechanics, and function. By offering technical innovations motivated by biomedical questions, he has uncovered new dimensions by which cells sense and respond to local cues in their microenvironment.
Lieping Chen, MD, PhD, professor of immunobiology, medical oncology, and dermatology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. For his fundamental contributions to cancer immunology and immunotherapy that further our understanding of how cancers evade immune detection. He has participated directly in the seminal clinical studies that established antibody blockers of the PD-1 pathway as foundational in cancer treatment.
Carrie H. Colla, PhD, Susan J. and Richard M. Levy Distinguished Professor and vice chair, The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, Lebanon, New Hampshire. For pathbreaking and influential research documenting the impact of payment policy on health outcomes, health care spending, and inequality; and for public service in her leadership of the Division of Health Analysis at the Congressional Budget Office, providing nonpartisan, objective information and analysis to inform federal health legislation.
Pamela Y. Collins, MD, MPH, Bloomberg Centennial Professor and chair, Department of Mental Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. For helping to establish and shape the field of global mental health, emphasizing inclusive equity. She has been a mental health leader at NIH, University of Washington, and Johns Hopkins. Her leadership has contributed to the integration of mental health services in priority global health programs around the world.
Esa M. Davis, MD, MPH, FAAFP, professor of family and community medicine, associate vice president for community health, and senior associate dean for population health and community medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. For advancing women’s health and health equity through trailblazing epidemiologic studies elucidating the associations of parity, pregnancy intervals, and weight gain with risk for maternal obesity, gestational diabetes, and their associated health disparities. She leads landmark pragmatic clinical trials informing practice guidelines to improve obesity- and diabetes-related maternal health outcomes.
Christine E. Dehlendorf, MD, MS, professor and vice chair for research, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. For her work in improving reproductive health and empowering patient-centered contraceptive choices. Her seminal practice-based research illuminated inadequate and inequitable shared decision-making about contraceptive options. She created a novel online contraceptive decision support tool and a first-ever patient-reported outcome performance measure of contraceptive care.
Terence S. Dermody, MD, Vira I. Heinz Distinguished Professor and chair of pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; and physician-in-chief and scientific director, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh. For being an internationally recognized physician-scientist, field-leading virologist, award-winning educator and mentor, and academic leader. He has made transformative discoveries in viral replication and pathogenesis, developed innovative programs for physician-scientist education, and spearheaded the community-engaged Pittsburgh Study to foster the well-being of children.
Stacie B. Dusetzina, PhD, professor of health policy and Ingram Professor of Cancer Research, Department of Health Policy, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee. For being an internationally recognized expert in prescription drug economics whose research and translational work directly contributed to the Inflation Reduction Act that expanded health insurance coverage for over 56 million Medicare beneficiaries. As a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) since 2021, she has shaped access to essential high-priced medicines for patients.
Christina D. Economos, PhD, dean and professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston. For her work as a renowned nutrition scholar and leader in the design and implementation of multidimensional childhood obesity prevention approaches and use of systems science tools to achieve whole-of-community effectiveness. Her pioneering research has particular relevance to interventions with ethnically and socio-economically diverse populations in urban and rural communities and schools.
Neill Epperson, MD, Robert Freedman Endowed Professor and chair, Department of Psychiatry, Anschutz School of Medicine, University of Colorado, Aurora. For her groundbreaking research at the interface of psychiatry and women’s health, with the discovery of childhood adversity interaction with gonadal steroids leading to fundamental brain changes and risk for cognitive and mood disorders for females. Through cross-species research, she has identified biological mechanisms that inform novel interventions.
Dee E. Fenner, MD, chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Elizabeth Bates Professor of Diseases of Women and Children, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor. For her work in studying fecal incontinence in aging and postpartum women, helping to unmask embarrassment and shame. Her model clinics for postpartum perineal damage and incontinence pioneered early complication identification, rehabilitation, psychosocial support, and repair. Her contributions in the evaluation of pelvic floor disorders, surgical technique and training, and advancing women surgeons make her a premier female pelvic surgeon of her generation.
Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, Lineberger Distinguished Professor and executive director, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, NC Basnight Cancer Hospital; and chief of oncology clinical services, UNC Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. For his work in optimizing most effective therapies for head and neck cancer that changed clinical practice, leading the first positive Phase III trial and FDA-approval of PD-1 immunotherapy, including advancing neoadjuvant immunotherapy, and changing National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines to permit deintensification for good prognosis, HPV+ cancer by reducing postoperative chemotherapy and radiotherapy after robotic surgery.
Daniel A. Fletcher, PhD, DPhil, Chatterjee Professor of Bioengineering and Biophysics, University of California, Berkeley. For the development of mobile phone-based microscopy to diagnose infectious diseases in developing countries, and for contributions to the mechanistic understanding of biological self-assembly and mechanotransduction.
Wendy S. Garrett, MD, PhD, Irene Heinz Given Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston. For her research into microbiomes in inflammatory bowel diseases, intestinal immunity, kidney disease, and colorectal cancer that has advanced the understanding of microbiome-host interactions and how microbial metabolites shape immune system function in health and disease.
Barney S. Graham, MD, PhD, founding director, David Satcher Global Health Equity Institute, and professor of medicine and of microbiology, biochemistry, and immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta. For being a chief architect and inventor of vaccines approved for preventing COVID-19 and RSV disease. He established clinical proof-of-concept for structure-based vaccine design (RSV and COVID-19). His proposal for a prototype-pathogen approach to pandemic preparedness has been globally adopted.
Joel F. Habener, MD, professor of medicine (emeritus), Harvard Medical School; and honorary physician, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. For the discovery of glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (GLP‐1), and its multiple anti‐diabetogenic actions, resulting to its current use as a leading effective treatment for type 2 diabetes and obesity. Habener discovered GLP‐1 stimulates insulin secretion in an entirely glucose-dependent manner, and also promotes the formation (neogenesis) and survival of pancreatic beta cells.
Suzanne N. Haber, PhD, dean’s professor, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Department of Psychiatry, and Department of Brain and Cognitive Science, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York. For her pioneering translational studies that combine circuitry studies, computational tools, and state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques to identify neural network dysfunction in psychiatric and neurological disorders. Her studies are critical for identifying potential biomarkers, circuit abnormalities, new therapeutic stimulation targets (invasive and noninvasive), and individualized treatments for psychiatric illnesses.
Lisa Hope Harris, MD, PhD, George E. Wantz Professor of Interdisciplinary Enrichment in Medicine, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, and professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Department of Women’s and Gender Studies; and director, Center for History, Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Ethics in Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor. For being a leading bioethics scholar and physician working to bridge profound divisions over the contentious issue of abortion. She developed groundbreaking communications strategies and interventions to support the women’s reproductive health workforce. Her work depolarizes abortion, reduces stigma, and enhances safe, evidence-based women’s reproductive health care.
Andrea Hayes Dixon, MD, PhD(h), dean and senior vice president of health affairs, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC. For pioneering cytoreductive therapy for rare pediatric cancers, increasing survival rates from 30% to 70%. As the first African American woman pediatric surgeon in the US and the first female dean of Howard University College of Medicine, she is inspiring and training the next generation of physicians from underrepresented backgrounds.
William Hersh, MD, professor, Division of Informatics, Clinical Epidemiology, and Translational Data Science, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland. For his leadership in biomedical informatics education that synergistically combines groundbreaking educational and world-class information retrieval research to forge innovative, sustainable programs that disseminate informatics knowledge. His accomplishments in curriculum development and asynchronous learning are embraced by universities, associations, and governments in developing informatics and artificial intelligence tools and programs.
Tamas L. Horvath, DVM, PhD, Jean and David W. Wallace Professor and chair, Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut. For providing fundamental novel insights into hypothalamic regulation of systemic metabolism and establishing a key role for mitochondrial and neuronal plasticity. He has shown that these hypothalamic metabolic circuits regulate higher brain functions and influence neurodegeneration, thus changing our concepts of integrative physiology in health and disease.
Sun Hur, PhD, Oscar M. Schloss, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston. For elucidating the self versus non-self RNA discrimination mechanism for the RIG-I-like receptors, revealing macromolecular assemblies that set a paradigm for sensing foreign nucleic acids in the innate immune system. Her recent findings on FOXP3 and AIRE expanded these mechanisms to transcription factors, with far-reaching implications beyond immunology.
Chandy C. John, MD, MS, Ryan White Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine and Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis. For making pivotal contributions to global health by defining mechanisms leading to death and neurodevelopmental impairment in severe malaria, and conducting field trials on malaria and sickle cell disease in African children that have changed international guidelines. He has mentored an entire generation of international investigators.
Seun Johnson-Akeju, MD, MMSc, MBA, chair, Department of Anesthesiology, Mass General Brigham; and Dr. Henry Isaiah Dorr Professor of Research and Teaching in Anesthetics and Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School, Boston. For being a leading authority on the neurophysiological and neurocognitive effects of anesthetics and perioperative stressors. His research bridges foundational laboratory discoveries with clinical trials, driving scientific progress and enhancing patient care.
Paule Valery Joseph, PhD, MBA, MS, FNP-BC, CTN-B, FAAN, Lasker Clinical Research Scholar and co-director, National Smell and Taste Center, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders; and chief, Section of Sensory Science and Metabolism, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, Maryland. For advancing clinical and translational research at the intersection of chemosensory biology, human health, and disease — bringing a nursing science perspective to illuminate the roles of taste and smell in metabolic disorders, addiction, and neurological conditions, and applying these discoveries to improve patient outcomes and public health. At NIAAA and the NIH National Smell and Taste Center, she leads efforts that integrate chemosensory biology with clinical practice. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she co-founded the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research.
Dina Katabi, PhD, Inaugural Thuan and Nicole Pham Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. For pioneering digital health technology that enables non-invasive, off-body remote health monitoring via AI and wireless signals, and for developing digital biomarkers for Parkinson’s progression and detection. She has translated this technology to advance objective, sensitive measures of disease trajectory and treatment response in clinical trials.
David G. Kirsch, MD, PhD, Peter and Shelagh Godsoe Chair in Radiation Medicine, senior scientist, and director, Radiation Medicine Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; head, Department of Radiation Oncology, University Health Network; and professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Toronto. For developing innovative genetically engineered mouse models of sarcoma to elucidate biological mechanisms of sarcoma development, metastasis, and response to radiotherapy and immunotherapy. He is an international expert in the treatment of sarcomas who translated research from his laboratory to clinicals trials that improved outcomes for sarcoma patients.
Frederick Kofi Korley, MD, PhD, professor and associate chair for research, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. For being an international leader in emergency medicine. He has transformed traumatic brain injury care through pioneering biomarker research, innovative clinical algorithm development, clinical trial leadership, and impactful mentorship. As principal investigator of several NIH and DOD-funded studies and leader of the first NIH R38 training program for emergency medicine residents, he exemplifies excellence in research, innovation, and mentorship.
Katy Backes Kozhimannil, PhD, MPA, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Division of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. For her research on health policy and health system features that impact maternal and child health outcomes and access to perinatal health care, especially in rural areas of the U.S. and among Native Americans, and for her ability to explain such research to policymakers to inform decision-making.
Deanna L. Kroetz, PhD, dean and professor, College of Pharmacy, Ohio State University, Columbus. For exemplary contributions in translational pharmacology, which include defining functional impact of genetic variation in selected ABC family drug transporters. She has applied genomic approaches for discovery of molecular mechanisms of drug response and toxicity and developing human iPSC models of drug neurotoxicity and provided exceptional mentorship and academic leadership.
Darius N. Lakdawalla, PhD, Quintiles Chair in Pharmaceutical Development and Regulatory Innovation and professor of pharmaceutical economics and public policy, Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; professor of health policy and management, Price School of Public Policy; and chief scientific officer, Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. For transforming the study of value in health care, using economic insights to reorient health care value assessment around what matters to patients and their families, identifying policies promoting value-based decisions by providers and medical innovators, and illuminating the role of patient behavior in affecting health outcomes.
Michael C. Lu, MD, MS, MPH, dean, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. For his work in fundamentally transforming our understanding of the causes and prevention of maternal and child health disparities through his Life Course Perspective on women’s health, catalyzing a paradigm shift in research, practice, and policy.
Michael E. Matheny, MD, MS, MPH, professor of biomedical informatics, biostatistics, and medicine and director, Center for Improving the Public’s Health Through Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center; and associate director, VA Informatics and Computing Infrastructure, Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, Nashville. For groundbreaking research in the use of informatics in veteran health care and automated medical product safety surveillance. He has used AI methods to create novel post-marketing surveillance algorithms and demonstrated their positive impact on device surveillance and quality assurance.
Samantha Meltzer-Brody, MD, MPH, executive dean, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. For being an international expert in the study and treatment of women’s mood disorders. Her contributions include leading the major international study of the genetics of perinatal mood disorders and leading the trials demonstrating the efficacy of the only, and novel, FDA-approved treatment for postpartum depression.
Joshua Mendell, MD, PhD, professor and vice chair, Department of Molecular Biology; Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator; and Charles Cameron Sprague, MD, Chair in Medical Science, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas. For his groundbreaking discoveries related to the functions of diverse classes of noncoding RNAs, including microRNAs, small nucleolar RNAs, tRNAs, and long noncoding RNAs, which have revealed their fundamental mechanisms of action, their roles in physiology, their aberrant activity in disease, and their potential as therapeutic targets.
Tomislav Mihaljevic, MD, chief executive officer, president, and Morton L. Mandel CEO Chair, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland. For his work in creating the contemporary model of health care at Cleveland Clinic, reinforcing the organization’s dedication to the global communities it serves. This model focuses on improving health care quality and public health, including providing equal access to care, eliminating child food insecurity, preventing lead poisoning, and improving maternal and infant health.
Thomas J. Montine, MD, PhD, Stanford Medicine Endowed Professor and chair, Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, California. For his highly innovative research and leadership that bridges genetics, pathology, small molecule development, and AI-based pathology approaches to resolve molecular mechanisms of brain aging and neurodegenerative disease and to improve its diagnosis and treatment.
Wanda K. Nicholson, MD, MPH, MBA, professor, prevention and community health, Milken Institute School of Public Health; former senior associate dean, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and professor, obstetrics and gynecology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC. For pioneering community-partnered research to develop and implement interventions to reduce health disparities in maternal diabetes and obesity, improve the health of the maternal-child dyad, and improve diversity in clinical trials. She has led the United States Preventive Services Task Force in enhancing clinical preventive services recommendations.
Paul W. Noble, MD, professor, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles. For his elucidation of fundamental mechanisms of persistent lung inflammation and fibrosis and for impact as a clinician that led to the development of FDA-approved treatments for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). As a leader in academic medicine, he has championed diversity, faculty development, and expansion of quality care to underserved populations.
Sabrina Paganoni, MD, PhD, Robert H. Brown Jr., PhilD, MD, Endowed Chair in Neurology and co-director, Neurological Clinical Research Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital; Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Massachusetts General Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital; and associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Boston. For her leadership in paradigm-shifting ALS research and care, development in innovative national platform trial infrastructures to accelerate testing of novel agents, and advancement of molecular and functional biomarker identification to facilitate precision medicine approaches. Her expanded access programs and collaborative integrative model have propelled the generalizability and impact of these results.
Duojia Pan, PhD, Fouad A. and Val Imm Bashour Distinguished Chair in Physiology, Department of Physiology, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas. For discovering the Hippo signaling pathway, which regulates tissue growth. His laboratory elucidated key components of the Hippo pathway and established a conserved role for Hippo signaling in control of organ size, tumorigenesis, and regeneration. He also elucidated the function of TSC1 and TSC2, which regulate TOR.
Maureen G. Phipps, MD, MPH, professor emerita, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University; and chief executive officer, MGP Strategies LLC, Boothbay, Maine. For her visionary academic and executive leadership in women’s health, and her transformative contributions to pressing health care challenges across state, national, and global contexts. She is widely recognized for advancing reproductive and maternal health, championing evidence-based care, and informing policy solutions through trusted leadership, thoughtful research, and strategic collaboration.
Ninez Alafriz Ponce, PhD, MPP, professor, health policy and management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles. For building the California Health Interview Survey as the model for state efforts to understand access to care and racial and ethnic inequities in health and health care. Her research has generated critical understanding of data equity to inform program and policy action addressing racial/ethnic health disparities, particularly for immigrant populations and Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander populations.
Anita Raj, PhD, MS, executive director, Newcomb Institute, and Nancy Reeves Dreux Chair and professor, Weatherhead School of Public Health, Tulane University, New Orleans. For impactful research on sexual, reproductive, and maternal health, as well as theoretical and survey measurement advancements in understanding women’s empowerment, gender norms, and gender-based violence as social determinants of health, resulting in evidence-based policies and global agenda setting with governments and U.N. organizations to benefit women and girls.
Rebecca R. Richards-Kortum, PhD, MS, Malcolm Gillis University Professor, bioengineering and electrical and computer engineering, Rice University, Houston. For major contributions to global health by creating low-cost, lifesaving technologies for underserved communities. Her innovations, from cervical cancer diagnostics to neonatal care technologies, have transformed health systems worldwide. She established educational programs, training future engineers to develop impactful, affordable health technologies globally.
P. David Rogers, PharmD, PhD, member and chair, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and St. Jude Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutical Sciences, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee. For discoveries in medical mycology and antifungal pharmacology that have contributed greatly to our understanding of the molecular and genetic basis of clinical antifungal drug resistance in pathogenic fungi and towards the improvement of antifungal pharmacotherapy.
Eben L. Rosenthal, MD, Barry and Amy Baker Professor and chair, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee. For conducting many “firsts” in human clinical trials using novel imaging agents, further defining the field of surgical imaging in head and neck and other cancers.
Kathleen Rubins, PhD, professor of computational and systems biology, University of Pittsburgh; astronaut (retired), NASA; major, 75th US Army Reserve Innovation Command; and microbiologist, US Army Medical Department, Houston. For leading the development of modern molecular and cellular biology methods for use in low-Earth orbit and low-resource environments, including the first successful DNA sequencing in space. Previously, she pioneered methods for studying viral diseases in Africa, including mpox and Ebola.
Michel W. Sadelain, MD, PhD, professor and director, Columbia Institute for Cell Engineering and Therapy, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York City. For pioneering scientific studies spanning more than 25 years that laid the groundwork for chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) immunotherapy for cancer and for advancing its clinical application. CAR-T cell therapy has been transformative for certain blood cancers and holds great promise for the treatment of other cancers and pathologies.
Enrique F. Schisterman, PhD, MA, chair and Perelman Professor in Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. For revolutionizing maternal and infant health by pioneering low-cost interventions, such as preconception aspirin and nutritional supplements, and developing novel epidemiology research methods. His work has significantly reduced maternal morbidity and mortality, shaped global guidelines, addressed health disparities, and uncovered long-term impacts, driving equitable reproductive health care worldwide.
Erin Margaret Schuman, PhD, director and professor, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany. For her work that provided the first evidence that proteins made locally near synapses can be used to enhance synaptic communication, a cellular correlate of memory. She made pioneering contributions that created, expanded, and solidified the field of local translation. Schuman’s work has revolutionized our understanding of how neurons work.
Margaret “Gretchen” Schwarze, MD, MPP, FACS, Morgridge Endowed Professor of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery and Department of Medical History and Bioethics, University of Wisconsin, Madison. For her pioneering work that has transformed how surgeons communicate with patients about major treatment decisions and informed consent for surgery. Her innovative empirical bioethics scholarship and internationally recognized groundbreaking framework, the Best Case/Worst Case tool, have also been applied in the disciplines of geriatrics, oncology, palliative, and critical care medicine.
Jay Ashok Shendure, MD, PhD, professor of genome sciences and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle. For pioneering development of the second wave of genomics technologies for gene discovery for Mendelian disorders, autism, and cancer; for non-invasive medical diagnostics based on cell-free DNA testing for prenatal diagnosis and cancer; for synthetic biology; and to understand gene regulation and embryonic development based on analysis of individual cells.
Edwin M. Stone, MD, PhD, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences and director, Institute for Vision Research, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City. For his work that has transformed ophthalmic genetics with seminal discoveries, including the identification and mechanistic characterization of the first human glaucoma gene, genes involved in macular degeneration, and numerous retinopathy genes. He is currently leading the development of affordable and nonprofit genetic testing and therapy for degenerative retinal diseases.
Elizabeth A. Stuart, PhD, Bloomberg Professor of American Health and Hurley-Dorrier Chair, Department of Biostatistics, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. For being one of the nation’s leading causal inference scholars, developing, communicating, and applying methods impacting health in a wide range of areas: mental health, substance abuse, gun violence, education, and environment. She has held numerous national leadership roles at the American Statistical Association, PCORI (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute), National Institutes of Health, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Charlotte J. Sumner, MD, professor, Departments of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore. For making seminal discoveries in genetic causes, pathophysiology, and drug targets for neuromuscular diseases that led to three approved DNA and RNA therapeutics for spinal muscular atrophy and emerging treatment for TRPV4 channelopathies. Her advocacy for these neglected diseases has transformed the lives of affected children and their families.
Katalin Susztak, MD, PhD, professor of Nephrology and Genetics, and director of the Kidney Innovation Center at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. For her pioneering insights into the genetic drivers of kidney disease, including the APOL1 variants in individuals of African ancestry, her groundbreaking research and leadership that have profoundly advanced clinical care and shaped the future of nephrology, and her commitment to health equity.
Karel Svoboda, PhD, director, Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics, Seattle. For discovering synaptic mechanisms of learning and neural circuit mechanisms underlying planning and movement, and for developing widely used microscopes, molecular tools, and software for cellular imaging in the intact brain.
J. Paul Taylor, MD, PhD, executive vice president, scientific director, Edward F. Barry Endowed Chair in Cell and Molecular Biology, and director, Pediatric Translational Neuroscience Initiative, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee. For discoveries in neurogenetics, for discovering the role of intrinsically disordered protein segments in biomolecular condensation (e.g., RNP granules) and how disturbances in this process drive neurological diseases, and for helping transform St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital into a world-class biomedical research institution in both fundamental biology and translational neuroscience.
Sarah Amalia Teichmann, FMedSci, FRS, chair in stem cell medicine, Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom. For being an international leader in systems biology, computational biology, and immunology. She made seminal contributions to our understanding of protein interactions and is a pioneer in single cell genomics. Her discoveries are revolutionizing our understanding of human biology, development, and disease, including at the maternal-fetal interface.
Ravi Thadhani, MD, MPH, executive vice president of clinical affairs and chief medical officer, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; and adjunct professor, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta. For visionary leadership at three academic health centers and for pioneering research leading to the first FDA-approved test to predict preeclampsia, a major medical cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality.
Joseph Wood Thompson, MD, MPH, president emeritus, Arkansas Center for Health Improvement; and professor, Colleges of Medicine and Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock. For being a distinguished leader in public health research, practice, and policy. As former surgeon general of Arkansas, he pioneered the design, implementation, and evaluation of new episode-based and primary care payment models that led the way for analogous federal models and leads health data integration in support of a continuously learning health system.
Alice Y. Ting, PhD, professor of genetics, biology, and by courtesy, of chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California. For leadership in developing molecular technologies for detecting, manipulating, and discovering biochemical events in living cells. She pioneered proximity labeling, a method for mapping spatial proteomes and transcriptomes with nanometer precision in living samples. Ting also contributed electron microscopy tags, engineered fluorophore ligases, and calcium integrators.
Stephen Francis Traynelis, PhD, professor and dean’s eminent scholar, Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta. For leadership in glutamate receptor biology. He elucidated new molecular and structural principles of ligand-gated ion channel function and their regulation by endogenous modulators. He developed first-in-class allosteric modulators of glutamate receptors and advanced our mechanistic understanding of synaptic transmission, epilepsy, neuroinflammation, and ion channel-related genetic disorders.
Patricia L. Turner, MD, MBA, FACS, executive director and chief executive officer, American College of Surgeons, Chicago. For her visionary leadership at the American College of Surgeons that coalesced all surgical specialties into the “House of Surgery,” creating a forceful, influential voice promoting evidence-based care. Her tireless efforts enable surgeons “to heal all patients with skill and trust.”
Victor E. Velculescu, MD, PhD, professor of oncology, pathology, medicine, and genetic medicine, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore. For pioneering contributions involving the discovery of genomic alterations in cancer and for developing non-invasive cancer detection technologies, including the first genome-wide sequence analysis in human cancer, which have contributed to the identification of cancer-related genes and pathways involved in tumorigenesis and individualized approaches for early cancer detection and diagnosis.
Lihong Wang, PhD, MS, Bren Professor of Medical Engineering and Electrical Engineering, Andrew and Peggy Cherng Medical Engineering Leadership Chair, and executive officer for medical engineering, Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering and Department of Electrical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. For pioneering the development, clinical translation, and commercialization of 3D photoacoustic tomography, enabling high-resolution multiscale imaging from organelles to organisms, and advancing the study, diagnosis, and intraoperative detection of human diseases such as cancer and brain disorders, thereby significantly impacting biomedical research and clinical practice.
Donald K. Warne, MD, MPH, co-director, Center for Indigenous Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. For his work that has significantly advanced Native American health by advocating for health care access, education, and policy reform. His leadership empowers Native communities through representation and culturally competent care. His achievements emphasize the importance of advocacy, education, and health systems change for marginalized populations.
Sing Sing Way, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati. For leadership and advocacy in reproductive and developmental biology research, with seminal contributions describing how pregnancy immunologically works, the maternal-fetal dyad, and immunity in newborn babies. He is the founding director of the Center for Inflammation and Tolerance, and coordinating investigator for March of Dimes Ohio Collaborative for Preterm Birth Prevention.
Pamela K. Woodard, MD, Elizabeth E. Mallinckrodt Professor of Radiology, and director and head, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. For her leadership as director of the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, being the first woman to lead the institute in its over 110-year history. The institute is one of the largest academic radiology departments in the United States, ranking third in National Institutes of Health funding.
Tracey J. Woodruff, PhD, MPH, professor, Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Services, University of California, San Francisco. For her creative research, novel methodologies, and leadership that revolutionized the discovery of environmental risk factors for globally increasing maternal, child, and population chronic diseases. Her rigorous analyses on exposures and health outcomes have transformed national and international policies on climate and environmental toxicants for improving health of this and future generations.
Clifford J. Woolf, MB, BCh, PhD, professor of neurology and neurobiology, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston. For his work on the discovery of central sensitization through fundamental basic neuroscience studies. Woolf has provided profound novel insight into clinical pain conditions — an insight that has directly introduced new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches that have changed the management of pain for millions of patients.
Anthony J. Wynshaw-Boris, MD, PhD, James H. Jewell MD ’34 Professor of Genetics, Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, and professor, Departments of Neurosciences and Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland. For defining the mechanisms of action of the genes responsible for ataxia telangiectasia, lissencephalies, and autism, resulting in major advances in understanding the pathophysiology of human developmental neurogenetic diseases and cancer. With creative use of animal models and induced pluripotent stem cells, he also identified targets for potential mechanistic-based therapies.
Newly elected international members and their election citations are:
Naeemah Abrahams, PhD, MPH, chief specialist scientist, Gender and Health Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa. For being a leading researcher of intimate partner and sexual homicide of women (femicide) in Africa. She led the world in surveillance methodology of African femicide, bringing global attention to the issue and for its reduction. Under her leadership, the rate of South African intimate partner femicide decreased significantly from 1999-2017.
Ibrahim Abubakar, FMedSci, PhD, FRCP, FFPH, vice provost (health) and professor of infectious disease epidemiology, University College London, London, United Kingdom. For providing novel insights on tuberculosis epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment, contributions to understanding the spread of emerging infections and to research into migration and health systems. His work on Nigeria’s health system has informed government policy to expand health insurance coverage to the most vulnerable individuals.
Facundo Damian Batista, PhD, FMedSci, scientific and associate director, Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard; Phillip and Susan Ragon Professor, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and faculty, Department of Immunology, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass. For his work in unraveling the biology of antibody-producing B cells to better understand how our body’s immune system responds to infectious diseases. More recently, he has contributed to the pre-clinical development of vaccines for diseases of global importance and a new best-in-class monoclonal antibody to prevent malaria.
Jie He, MD, PhD, director, National Cancer Center, China; president, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College; and academician, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. For transformative contributions to cancer research, public health, and clinical care, which have profoundly improved outcomes for one-quarter of the world’s population and set new benchmarks in global oncology. Under his leadership, China’s five-year cancer survival rate rose from 30.9% in the early 2000s to 43.7% in 2021, reflecting unprecedented progress in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment during the most populous era in human history.
Samuel M. Kariuki, DVM, MSc, PhD, Africa continental lead and office director, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative; and senior principal research scientist, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya. For being an internationally renowned leader in enteric infectious diseases who has contributed fundamental insight into the prevalence and spread of multi-drug-resistant food and waterborne infections while spearheading vaccine programs to mitigate the impact of enteric infections in low-resource and high-population density communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
Pearse A. Keane, MBBCh, MD, professor of artificial medical intelligence, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London Institute of Ophthalmology, London, United Kingdom. For pioneering medical artificial intelligence in ophthalmology, initiating a seminal collaboration with Google DeepMind to build one of the world’s most advanced clinical algorithms for accurate diagnosis of 50 eye conditions. He fostered the first AI foundation model in ophthalmology and has forged the emerging field of oculomics.
Michael Joseph Meaney, PhD, professor, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. For his exceptional research that is often credited with launching the field of behavioral epigenetics by demonstrating how early life adversity results in epigenetic modifications of key stress-responsive genes, thereby producing risk for altered brain development and the emergence of psychopathology.
Mayowa Ojo Owolabi, Dr Med, MD, DSc, professor, Center for Genomic and Precision Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. For being a leading physician scientist focused on the genomic epidemiology of stroke and chronic non-communicable diseases in Africa. He spearheaded discoveries of the dominant genetic and environmental risk factors for stroke and is in the vanguard of developing pragmatic interventions to reduce the global burden of stroke.
Molly Morag Stevens, DBE, FRS, FREng, FMedSci, John Black Professor of Bionanoscience, Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery, University of Oxford; and professor of biomedical materials and regenerative medicine at Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom. For exceptional contributions to biomaterials-based approaches to address critical health care challenges for tissue regeneration and biosensing, and for biomaterials that elicit specific biological and chemical responses to investigate this frontier across scales, with significant contributions resulting in a wide range of innovations in regenerative medicine, advanced therapeutics, and disease diagnostics.
Robert Charles Swanton, MBPhD, FRCP, professor, Francis Crick Institute & UCL Cancer Institute, London, United Kingdom. For showing how evolutionary biology can be applied to cancer genomics, demonstrating cancer branched evolution is ubiquitous; and for deciphering how it is shaped by genome instability, therapy, and immunity, and how these insights can be converted into precision therapy, revealing how carcinogens drive cancer initiation independent of DNA mutagenesis through inflammation.
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