NAM Member Class of 2018
If you are looking for the live webcast of the Class of 2018 induction ceremony, beginning at 5:30pm EDT on October 19, please click here.
President Victor J. Dzau will welcome members elected in 2018 at the October 2019 NAM Annual Meeting. These new members include:
Hanan M. Al Kuwari, PhD (International)
Minister of Public Health, State of Qatar
Managing Director of Hamad Medical Corporation
State of Qatar
Her Excellency Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari is a distinguished health care executive and leader. She is currently the Minister of Public Health of the State of Qatar, where she has overall responsibility for protecting and promoting public health and regulating the medical landscape. Prior to becoming the Minister of Public Health, Her Excellency was the Managing Director of Hamad Medical Corporation, which effectively serves as the national health system in Qatar. Under her leadership, HMC was transformed into an integrated academic health system with numerous international accreditations and awards.
R. Bruce Aylward, MD, MPH, DTM&H (International)
Assistant Director-General
World Health Organization
Bruce Aylward is a global leader and innovator in public health and epidemiology, having led global polio eradication for over fifteen years, and the WHO humanitarian and epidemiological responses to outbreaks such as Ebola for which he took the initiative to successfully engage the entire UN system and humanitarian community while leading the WHO response.
Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, PhD (International)
Nobel Laureate
Honorary President of the Virology Department and of the International Network
Institut de Pasteur
Dr. Barré-Sinoussi is the co-recipient recipient of the 2008 Nobel prize in Physiology/Medicine for her notable discovery of HIV as the cause of AIDS. She has made seminal contributions to pathogenesis, control of HIV/SIV infection, immune activation and mother-to-child transmission. Her most recent focus has been on a cure for HIV.
Linamara R. Battistella, MD, PhD (International)
Full Professor of Physiatry, Medical School
University of São Paulo
Director of Collaborating Center of WHO/PAHO for Rehabiltación
Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Lucy Montoro Rehabilitation Network
Vice -President, São Paulo Academy of Medicine
Dr. Battistella is a veteran of the Disability Rights movement in Brazil and an enthusiast of rehabilitation and assistive technologies and their impact on the quality of life and independent living of people with disabilities. Dr. Battistella has extensive experience in policy for people with disabilities in Brazil and around the world and was a driving force behind governmental policies to support the largest and most successful rehabilitation services network in Brazil, considered a model by the WHO and other countries.
Yasmine Belkaid, PhD
Director, NIAID Microbiome Program
Co-Director, NIH Center for Human Immunology
Chief, Metaorganism Immunology Section, Laboratory of Immune System Biology
Division of Intramural Research
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health
Dr. Belkaid’s work has transformed the field of immune regulation. Her pioneering work has defined fundamental mechanisms that regulate tissue homeostasis and host immune responses and uncovered key roles for the commensal microbiota and dietary factors in the maintenance of tissue immunity and protection to pathogens.
James M. Berger, PhD
Director, Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Co-Director, Cancer Chemical and Structural Biology Program
Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Berger has made groundbreaking discoveries in elucidating the molecular structure and mechanisms of protein-nucleic acid assemblies that control cell proliferation and genomic stability, generating critical insights into drug mechanism and the molecular etiology of genetic disease that directly impact human health and therapeutic development.
Richard E. Besser, MD
President and CEO
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Dr. Besser is one of the nation’s premier public health-scientist communicators, first leading the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the 2009 flu pandemic and then as Chief Health journalist at ABC News (nominated for eight Emmys and two Peabody Awards). Now he leads the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in its effort to help the nation build a Culture of Health grounded in health equity.
Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, MB, BS, FCPS, FRCP, FRCPCH (International)
Robert Harding Chair in Global Child Health and Policy
Ibn Sina Scholar in Global Child Health
Co-Director, Centre for Global Child Health
Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Canada)
Founding Director, Center of Excellence in Women and Child Health
Aga Khan University (Karachi, Pakistan)
Dr. Bhutta’s contributions to child health and policy globally are outstanding and strategically target knowledge synthesis and translation for effective interventions and delivery strategies. His team has been in the forefront of implementation research among marginalized populations in community settings and he has been a leading advocate for evidence-based action to improve maternal and child health and development in conflict and humanitarian settings.
Richard S. Blumberg, MD
Jerry S. Trier Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Medicine
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Dr. Blumberg’s laboratory has made multiple seminal, paradigm-changing contributions to our understanding of mucosal immunology and immune development. He has identified mechanistic alterations central to several diseases including autoimmune disorders, cancer, and inflammatory bowel disease, the latter for which he is considered one of the leading research authorities internationally. His work has led directly to new therapies that are now in clinical practice.
Azad Bonni, MD, PhD
Senior Vice President and Global Head Neuroscience & Rare Diseases Discovery and Translational Area
Roche Pharma Research & Early Development
Roche Innovation Center Basel
Dr. Bonni has discovered fundamental signaling networks governing brain development. His seminal studies of transcriptional, epigenetic, and ubiquitin mechanisms orchestrating neuronal morphology and synaptogenesis have advanced understanding of brain development and shed light on the pathogenesis of developmental cognitive disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.
Andrea Califano, Dr.
Clyde and Helen Wu Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology
Departments of Systems Biology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Biomedical Informatics and Medicine
Chair, Department of Systems Biology
Director, JP Sulzberger Columbia Genome Center
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Dr. Califano is an internationally recognized founder of the cancer systems biology field. He has elucidated a recurrent regulatory architecture (oncotecture) implemented by master regulator proteins presiding over the stability of cancer cell states. This concept helped elucidate several novel cancer related mechanisms, leading to highly innovative clinical trials.
Michael A. Caligiuri, MD
President
Deana and Steve Campbell Physician-in-Chief
Distinguished Chair
City of Hope National Medical Center
Dr. Caligiuri is a world-renowned physician, scientist, builder, innovator, leader and visionary, dedicated to developing the next generation of leading-edge cancer therapies. Among his many discoveries, his work has revealed the stages and site of human natural killer cell development; the role of interleukin-15 in human natural killer cell development, survival, and activation; and a fundamental mechanism of human innate immune surveillance against primary infection. He also co-discovered human innate lymphoid cells.
Clifton W. Callaway, MD, PhD
Ronald D. Stewart Endowed Chair in Research
Department of Emergency Medicine
University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Callaway is an international thought leader in the basic science and clinical therapies for improving outcomes and reducing brain injury after resuscitation from cardiac arrest. Dr. Callaway has been a leader in the American Heart Association’s efforts to improve successful resuscitation nationally and now leads the new National Cardiac Arrest Collaborative, recommended by the IOM cardiac arrest report.
Elias Campo, MD, PhD (International)
Professor of Anatomic Pathology
Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona
Director, Institute of Biomedical Research August Pii
Sunyer, Barcelona
Dr. Campo made groundbreaking discoveries regarding the molecular pathogenesis of many B-cell neoplasms, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, mantle cell lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and plasmablastic lymphoma. His work has shaped the modern definition of these diseases and led to paradigm shifts in treatment approaches.
Yang Chai, DDS, PhD
Professor
George and MaryLou Boone Chair in Craniofacial Biology
Director, Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology
Associate Dean of Research
Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry
University of Southern California
A world-renowned leader in craniofacial biology, Yang Chai’s pioneering studies on the molecular regulation of multiple stem cell types during craniofacial development have led to novel bioengineered treatment strategies and have given new hope to patients and families worldwide suffering from debilitating and emotionally devastating malformations of the head and face.
Giselle Corbie-Smith, MD, MSc
Kenan Distinguished Professor
Department of Social Medicine
Department of Medicine
UNC Center for Health Equity Research
UNC School of Medicine
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Giselle Corbie-Smith is a pioneer in the application of community-engagement methods at the intersection of medicine, public health, and health services research. She is recognized for her scholarly work on the practical and ethical issues of partnering with communities in research to achieve health equity. Her visionary leadership and outstanding scholarship have led to increased understanding and greater appreciation of methodological, ethical, and practical issues to address racial health disparities in health.
Peter Daszak, PhD
President and CEO
EcoHealth Alliance
Through the application of sophisticated ecological methods, scientific leadership, and innovation, Peter Daszak has improved global health and pandemic preparedness by identifying the origin and drivers of emerging diseases—such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Nipah, and Middle East respiratory syndrome —and developing the map of disease hotspots by incorporating socioeconomic and environmental determinants of viral emergence.
Michael S. Diamond, MD, PhD
Herbert S. Gasser Professor
Departments of Medicine, Molecular Microbiology, Pathology & Immunology
Washington University School of Medicine
Dr. Diamond studies the molecular basis and immune-mediated control of global infectious disease threats, including Zika, dengue, and chikungunya viruses. He has defined critical viral determinants of pathogenesis and key protective immune effectors that have led to the development of countermeasures that could prevent their spread.
Susan M. Domchek, MD
Basser Professor in Oncology
Executive Director, Basser Center for BRCA
Director, MacDonald Cancer Risk Evaluation Program
Abramson Cancer Center
University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Domchek is an international leader in inherited breast and ovarian cancer genetics. She has established evidence-based management recommendations for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers (prophylactic oophorectomy). She has directed and co-directed studies leading to the first two approvals of BRCA1/2-specific drug therapies (olaparib and rucaparib).
Francesca Dominici, PhD
Clarence James Gamble Professor of Biostatistics, Population and Data Science
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Co-Director, Harvard Data Science Initiative
Harvard University
Dr. Dominici is an internationally renowned expert in environmental health and statistical methods. She has made seminal contributions to our understanding and control of the health effects of air pollution and of climate change through methodologic innovation and wise interpretation of complex findings.
Benjamin L. Ebert, MD, PhD
Chair of Medical Oncology
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
George P. Canellos, MD and Jean S. Canellos Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Dr. Ebert’s laboratory has helped transform our understanding of the genetics and biology of myeloid malignancies. His lab characterized and defined the clinical consequences of clonal hematopoiesis, a pre-malignant hematopoietic state, and elucidated the mechanism of action of thalidomide and its analogs, opening a new field of drug development.
Jennifer H. Elisseeff, PhD
Director, Translational Tissue Engineering Center
Morton Goldberg Professor
Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Elisseeff has pioneered the integration of biomaterials and biological research to design and translate regenerative medicine therapies for multiple clinical indications. Integrating feedback from clinical translation and crossing boundaries, Elisseeff established the field of Biomaterials directed Regenerative Immunology.
Robert L. Ferrer, MD, MPH
Dr. John M. Smith, Jr. Professor and Vice Chair for Research
Department of Family & Community Medicine
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Dr. Ferrer’s application of the groundbreaking Capability Framework provides a practical and positive method for addressing the social & environmental determinants of health within health care. His leadership of participatory community health interventions is an international model of practical approaches to integrating primary care and community health.
Robert M. Friedlander, MD, MA
Chairman
Department of Neurological Surgery
Walter E. Dandy Professor
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
A preeminent neurosurgeon-scientist, Dr. Friedlander was the first to demonstrate the role of caspases in cell-death pathways in neurologic diseases. His groundbreaking discoveries have led to the development of novel therapies for stroke, brain and spinal cord injury, Huntington’s disease and ALS. He has developed techniques to improve outcomes for complex neurosurgical procedures.
Ying-Hui Fu, PhD
Professor
Department of Neurology
University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Fu is a pioneer in identifying genes that have significant contribution to human circadian/sleep behaviors, including familial advanced sleep phase and familial natural short sleep. Her leadership in the genetics of human sleep behavior is capped by her discovery of a mutation that leads to altered human sleep duration.
William A. Gahl, MD, PhD
Senior Investigator, Medical Genetics Branch
Department of Health and Human Services
National Human Genome Research Institute
National Institutes of Health
Dr. Gahl created the NIH Undiagnosed Diseases Program (UDP) within intramural NIH to meld individualized patient care with next generation sequencing and provide insights into new mechanisms of disease. He spearheaded expansion to a national and international Undiagnosed Diseases Network and championed sharing of genetic databases and best practices.
Joshua A. Gordon, MD, PhD
Director
National Institute of Mental Health
National Institutes of Health
Dr. Gordon’s work has demonstrated how distant brain regions cooperate and coordinate their activity in order to guide behavior, and how this coordination is disrupted in experimental systems relevant to psychiatric disorders, developing methods to do so. He currently serves as Director of the NIMH.
Scott Gottlieb, MD
Resident Fellow
American Enterprise Institute
Through a career of public- and private-sector leadership, Dr. Gottlieb has influenced a wide range of public health issues, including key contributions on biomedical innovation policy, tobacco policy, and consumer protection and education. As FDA commissioner, Dr. Gottlieb addressed challenging, contentious issues through effective leadership and evidence-based policy.
David A. Hafler, MD, MSc William S. and Lois Stiles Edgerly Professor of Neurology Professor of Immunobiology Chairman, Department of Neurology Yale School of Medicine
Dr. Hafler has made seminal discoveries defining the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). He was the first to identify autoreactive T cells and the mechanisms that underlie their dysregulation in the disease. He co-led discovery of susceptibility genes that lead to MS and elucidated how they contribute to the disease.
Evelynn M. Hammonds, PhD
Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science
Professor of African and African American Studies
Chair, Department of the History of Science
Harvard University
Dr. Hammonds is among the nation’s most influential historians investigating the relationship of race, science, and medicine. She has made crucial contributions that clarify the use of the concept of race as it relates to important health disparities and is a powerful advocate for enhancing diversity in medicine and science.
David N. Herndon, MD, FACS
Editor
Journal of Burn Care and Research
With research programs continuously funded by the NIH, Shriners Hospital for Children, the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation, and many foundations for over 30 years, and as a World leading scientist, Dr. Herndon has significantly improved our understanding of all of the metabolic effects of burn injury and has positively influenced how burn patients are treated.
Steven M. Holland, MD
NIH Distinguished Investigator
Director, Division of Intramural Research
Chief, Immunopathogenesis Section
Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health
Dr. Holland is distinguished for his achievements in primary immunodeficiencies and infectious diseases. His integrated basic and clinical research discoveries include the recognition, treatment, genomic identification, and cure of previously unexplained diseases as well as the identification and characterization of novel pathogens in those diseases.
Amy Houtrow, MD, PhD, MPH
Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Pediatrics
Endowed Chair for Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
As a world renowned pediatric rehabilitation physician and researcher, Dr. Houtrow’s research evaluates disability trends, health disparities and the interaction between families, the health system, and social factors on health outcomes for children with disabilities. Her work influences pediatric health policies and practice.
Jeffrey A. Hubbell, PhD
Eugene Bell Professor in Tissue Engineering
Pritzker School for Molecular Engineering
The University of Chicago
Dr. Hubbell pioneered the development of cell responsive (bioactive) materials. He invented widely used FDA-approved surgical sealants and clinically validated tissue repair materials as well as highly innovative technologies for vaccine delivery and induction of immunological tolerance. Additionally, he has provided world-wide leadership in bioengineering.
John P. Ioannidis, MD, DSc
C.F. Rehnborg Professor in Disease Prevention
Professor of Medicine, of Health Research and Policy, of Biomedical Data Science, and of Statistics
Co-Director, Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS)
Stanford Prevention Research Center
Stanford University
Dr. Ioannidis is a dedicated supporter of science. His seminal work on meta-research and evidence-based medicine promotes transparent and reproducible research with major impact on medicine and health. By promoting positive changes in planning and conducting studies, he has made tremendous improvements on the reliability and utility of scientific information.
Robert E. Kingston, PhD
Chief, Department of Molecular Biology
Massachusetts General Hospital
Professor of Genetics
Harvard Medical School
Dr. Kingston contributed seminal studies on the nucleosome as a dynamic and integral component of transcriptional regulation. He identified and characterized key proteins that modulate the location and stability of nucleosomes to regulate chromatin dynamics. He advanced our appreciation of the scope of epigenetic regulatory complexes and established promising therapeutic targets.
Ophir D. Klein, MD, PhD
Larry L. Hillblom Distinguished Professor in Craniofacial Anomalies
Charles J. Epstein Professor of Human Genetics
Schools of Dentistry & Medicine
University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Klein has an international reputation in developmental and stem cell biology, focusing on craniofacial, tooth and bone development and regeneration, integral to oral and child health and pediatrics. His work has provided insights into the biology of craniofacial and intestinal stem cells, destined to lead to the biologically-inspired regeneration of organs.
Alex H. Krist, MD, MPH, FAAFP
Professor
Family Medicine & Population Health
Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Krist pioneered the discovery of active patient engagement informatics solutions, including the invention of MyPreventiveCare for disadvantaged populations. He is a well-funded researcher (NIH, AHRQ, PCORI) who also serves as a leader on the USPSTF and as an advisor for federal agencies, serving as co-chair of the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee before age 40. He translates evidence into practice and policy.
John Kuriyan, PhD
Professor
Molecular & Cell Biology and Chemistry
University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Kuriyan’s pioneering contributions led to understanding the regulation of eukaryotic cell signaling by proteins such as Src-family kinases, Abelson tyrosine kinase, the epidermal growth factor receptor and Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase II. He determined the structural and molecular origin of the specificity of the first precision medicine, the cancer drug Gleevec.
Joy E. Lawn, MBBS, FRCP (Paeds), MPH, PhD, FMedSci (International)
Professor and Chair
Maternal Reproductive & Child Health Epidemiology
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Dr. Lawn has 25 years of global health experience and plays an international leadership role for newborn health and stillbirths, both for epidemiological burden estimates and for the programmatic and clinical evidence base to address the burdens, notably in Africa.
Ellen Leibenluft, MD
Senior Investigator
Chief, Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience
Intramural Research Program
National Institute of Mental Health
National Institutes of Health
Dr. Leibenluft highlighted the need to carefully evaluate children who may have bipolar disorder. She identified a new clinical problem, chronic irritability, which differs from pediatric bipolar disorder and is a pioneer in using cognitive neuroscience to address fundamental clinical questions on nosology and treatment of pediatric mental disorders.
Gabriel M. Leung, MD, MPH (International)
Dean of Medicine and Zimmern Professor of Population Health
The University of Hong Kong
Dr. Leung is the 40th Dean of Medicine in Hong Kong University. Appointed at age 40, Leung is the youngest Dean in the past century with achievements in curriculum reform, campus development, and global health leadership. He is also the head of the Hong Kong Chief Executive’s Office (equivalent to the White House Chief of Staff).
Linda M. Liau, MD, PhD, MBA
Chair of Neurosurgery
UCLA Department of Neurosurgery
Eugene Stern Professor
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Liau’s work in brain tumor immunology and immunotherapy in the early 1990s led to the seminal discovery that peripheral anti-tumor vaccination could lead to active T-cell infiltration into the brain, which was previously thought to be immune-privileged. She developed the first autologous dendritic cell-based vaccine for glioblastoma patients, and has provided novel insights into the use of neoadjuvant and combination immunotherapeutic approaches for central nervous system tumors.
Keith D. Lillemoe, MD
Chief of Surgery
Massachusetts General Hospital
Gerald Austen Professor
Harvard Medical School
Dr. Lillemoe is an internationally recognized surgical leader who has advanced the care of patients with pancreaticobiliary disease through multidisciplinary programs. He is a decorated surgical educator and role model who has helped transform patient care through enhancing surgical quality, safety and value from the platform of a national leader.
Xihong Lin, PhD
Professor of Biostatistics
Coordinating Director of Program in Quantitative Genomics
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
and Professor of Statistics
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Harvard University
Dr. Lin has made outstanding contributions to statistics, genetics, epidemiology and environmental health by influential and ingenious research in statistical methods and applications in whole-genome sequencing association studies, gene-environment, integrative analysis, and complex observational studies.
Catherine R. Lucey, MD
Executive Vice Dean and Vice Dean for Education
The Faustino and Martha Molina Bernadett Presidential Chair in Medical Education
Professor of Medicine
Office of Medical Education
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
A recognized thought leader in medical education, Dr. Lucey has been engaged in the national transformation of undergraduate medical education to meet the evolving needs of 21st century patients for physicians who live the values of professionalism, engage in Interprofessional team-based systems improvement, advance science and advocate for social justice.
Ellen J. MacKenzie, PhD, MSc
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor and Dean
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Dr. MacKenzie has defined the field of trauma services and outcomes research and is looked to as one of the foremost experts in the area. At the same time, she has embraced opportunities for academic leadership and was recently named Dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Martin A. Makary, MD, MPH, FACS
Professor of Surgery and Health Policy and Management
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Director, Improving Wisely
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Creator of the surgery checklist used in nearly every hospital in the world, Dr. Makary authored the 2nd most cited article in all of science in 2016. He also led pioneer studies on hospital safety culture, frailty as a medical condition and created novel metrics of high-value care used in large health systems across the US.
Bradley A. Malin, PhD, FACMI
Professor and Vice Chair, Biomedical Informatics
Professor of Biostatistics and Computer Science
Co-Director, Health Data Science Center
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Dr. Malin is at the forefront of investigation into natural language de-identification. He pioneered privacy preserving technologies used across the world, deeply influencing both national and international policies around research protection and enabling broad sharing and reuse of health and social data at an unprecedented scale.
George A. Mashour, MD, PhD
Bert N. La Du Professor of Anesthesiology
Director, Center for Consciousness Science
Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research
Director, Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research
University of Michigan
Dr. Mashour has advanced the neuroscience of consciousness and anesthetic-induced unconsciousness by identifying common network-level effects of diverse general anesthetics. Through large-scale clinical studies, he has made major contributions to understanding and preventing adverse neurologic outcomes of surgery. Dr. Mashour is also an institutional and national leader in the advancement of translational science.
Ann C. McKee, MD
William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Pathology
Boston University School of Medicine
Director of Neuropathology
VA Boston Healthcare System
Dr. McKee’s groundbreaking work on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Alzheimer’s disease, aging, and vascular neuropathology has revolutionized medicine’s understanding of the clinicopathological and molecular features of CTE in athletes and veterans exposed to neurotrauma or blast injury and has changed the public dialogue on sports-related risk.
Barbara J. Meyer, PhD
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Professor of Genetics, Genomics, and Development
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Meyer discovered how organisms count X chromosomes to specify sex and found that proteins, co-opted from chromosome-segregation machinery, compact X chromosomes to reduce expression, compensating for imbalances in sex-chromosome number. Her discovery of proteins that tether and release replicated chromosomes to produce gametes is relevant to causes of miscarriages and birth defects.
Matthew L. Meyerson, MD, PhD
Professor of Pathology
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Harvard Medical School
Dr. Meyerson’s discovery of EGFR mutations in lung cancer, and their ability to predict responsiveness to EGFR inhibitors, helped to establish the current paradigm of precision cancer therapy. He has been an intellectual force behind efforts to use DNA sequencing to systematically identify cancer-relevant mutations and pathogens.
Terrie E. Moffitt, PhD
Nannerl O. Keohane University Professor
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
Duke University
Terrie Moffitt’s groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of human development include leading two scientifically productive and innovative birth-cohort studies. Her seminal theory of the development of antisocial behavior has had wide-ranging influence on clinical diagnosis of childhood conduct disorders, the early-years intervention movement, and two Supreme Court decisions.
Sean J. Morrison, PhD
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Director, Children’s Research Institute
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Dr. Morrison distinguished self-renewing stem cells from multipotent progenitors in multiple tissues and discovered a series of key self-renewal mechanisms, including networks of photo-oncogenes and tumor suppressors that are conserved across tissues and that regulate stem cell self-renewal and stem cell aging. Morrison also identified the hematopoietic stem cell niche.
Charles A. Nelson, III, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics and Neuroscience
Harvard Medical School
Richard David Scott Chair in Pediatric Developmental Medicine Research
Boston Children’s Hospital
Professor of Education
Harvard University
Dr. Nelson is an internationally celebrated neuroscientist who has pioneered research on brain development in low and middle income countries such as Romania and Bangladesh. His work in Romania, for example, includes the only RCT of foster care as an intervention for early institutionalization, and has revealed the powerful effects of early experience on brain development. In addition to his work on early adversity, Nelson has also made substantial contributions to our understanding of atypical patterns of brain development such as those associated with autism.
Kara Odom Walker, MD, MPH, MSHS
Cabinet Secretary
Delaware Department of Health and Services
At the age of 39, Dr. Walker became one of the first African American female family physicians to be appointed Secretary of a state department of HHS. Throughout her career spanning roles in academic medicine, PCORI, and now state government, she has championed health equity and consumer and community engagement.
Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, FRCOG, FACOG
Cancer Center Deputy Director
The M. Steven Piver Professor & Chair
Department of Gynecologic Oncology
Professor, Department of Immunology
Executive Director, Center for Immunotherapy
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Odunsi identified key mechanisms of immune suppression within the ovarian tumor microenvironment and implemented multi-institutional immunotherapy trials using novel strategies he developed to harness the immune system in ovarian cancer.
Lucila Ohno-Machado, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Chair, Health Systems Department of Biomedical Informatics
Associate Dean for Informatics and Technology
University of California, San Diego
Dr. Ohno-Machado leads a clinical data research network with 31 million patients, including national VA data, UC, USC, and Cedars-Sinai. She leads the California Precision Medicine Consortium for NIH AllofUs program. Dr. Ohno-Machado also created an algorithm that allows vulnerable population data to be used in research without breaking social contracts. She is the first woman and the first underrepresented minority to lead a UCSD Medical Center department. She implemented first system to allow healthcare systems to honor patient preferences for clinical data and biospecimen sharing for research.
Jordan S. Orange, MD, PhD
Reuben S. Carpentier Professor and Chairman
Department of Pediatrics
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Dr. Orange has defined a new class of immune diseases, natural killer cell deficiencies, as well as other genetic immunodeficiencies. He brings clinical and biological insights from these disorders to advance science, improve patient lives and accelerate broader translational therapeutics.
Beverley A. Orser, MD, PhD, FRCPC, FRC (International)
Professor and Chair
Department of Anesthesia
Professor, Physiology
Staff Anesthesiologist, Department of Anesthesia
Sunnybrook Health Science Centre
University of Toronto
Dr. Orser first discovered the unique pharmacological properties of extrasynaptic GABA-A receptors and has subsequently demonstrated their mechanistic role in anesthetic- and inflammation-induced impairment of memory.
Lori J. Pierce, MD, FASCO, FASTRO
Professor of Radiation Oncology
Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs
University of Michigan
An internationally recognized researcher in radiation treatment for breast cancer, Dr. Pierce has translated advances in medical physics to develop and evaluate advanced technologies for radiation treatment, as well as laboratory advances to develop and evaluate approaches combining radiotherapy with drugs to radio-sensitize aggressive tumors.
Daniel E. Polsky, PhD
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Economics
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Carey Business School
Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Polsky is a leading health economist who has advanced the fundamental understanding of the tradeoffs between quality of care and health spending. Renown for advancing methods for economic evaluations within randomized clinical trials and assessing health reform implications for provider access among low-income Americans.
Carol Propper, PhD (International)
Professor of Economics
Department of Economics and Public Policy Imperial College Business School
Imperial College London
Carol Propper has made fundamental contributions to the understanding of health reform, health systems (including single payer), international comparisons, environmental impacts on health, inequality and health, mental health, and health care markets. In addition to her critical research contributions, she has participated in policy formation, making real world impacts.
Josiah “Jody” Rich, MD, MPH
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
Brown University
Director, The Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights
The Miriam Hospital
Dr. Rich has spent over two decades researching, caring for, and being a leading advocate for underserved and vulnerable populations. He directs The Brown Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights. His recent focus on the opioid epidemic has led to a decrease in overdose deaths among those released from prison and jail in Rhode Island.
Gene E. Robinson, PhD
Maybelle Leland Swanlund Endowed Chair
Professor of Entomology
Director, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Robinson pioneered the application of genomics to social behavior and discovered that brain gene expression is highly sensitive to social influences. This discovery changed the way we understand nature and brought a new synthesis to the social, life and medical sciences.
Hector P. Rodriguez, PhD, MPH
Henry J. Kaiser Endowed Professor of Organized Health Systems
School of Public Health, Health Policy and Management
University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Rodriguez’ singular accomplishment is in integrating organization science theories and methods to assess the impact of health care teams and primary care re-organization on patient engagement, patient experience, and outcomes of care. His work has been particularly influential with leaders of systems serving socioeconomically vulnerable populations.
Charles N. Rotimi, PhD
Chief and Senior Investigator
Metabolic, Cardiovascular and Inflammatory Disease Genomics Branch
Director, Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health
National Human Genome Research Institute
National Institutes of Health
Dr. Rotimi’s groundbreaking research in African ancestry populations has provided novel insight into the determinants (lifestyle, culture, and genetics) of metabolic and inflammatory disorders including hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia and podoconiosis –a neglected tropical disease–thus shedding considerable insight on health disparity globally. His efforts at globalizing genomics has been transformative with the engagement of African communities for the International HapMap and 1000 Genomes projects, being the founding president of the African Society of Human Genetics, and spearheading the formation of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) Initiative with over $170 million worth of funding from the NIH and Wellcome Trust.
Ralph L. Sacco, MD, MS, FAAN, FAHA
Olemberg Family Professor and Chairman of Neurology
Senior Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Science
Executive Director Evelyn McKnight Brain Institute
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Dr. Sacco has been instrumental in developing policies that promote ideal cardiovascular health, brain health, stroke prevention, health disparities, and non-communicable disease targets. He has written seminal publications on social and environmental risk factors for stroke and cognitive decline, is the founding principal investigator of the 27-year NINDS-funded Northern Manhattan Study, and was the first neurologist to serve as the President of the American Heart Association.
Judith A. Salerno, MD, MS
President
The New York Academy of Medicine
Widely recognized as an innovator and champion for the health needs of the underserved and vulnerable, Dr. Salerno’s achievements span improved palliative care for veterans, a successful national campaign to combat childhood obesity, and signature initiatives to reduce racial disparities in breast cancer.
Nanette F. Santoro, MD
Professor and E. Stewart Taylor Chair of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology)
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Dr. Santoro has advanced the health of women through advocacy for research funding, research discoveries in health predictors of midlife women, and participation in cutting edge clinical trial design and execution. She has contributed to quality of care in Ob/Gyn by creating standards of care applied by ABOG and ACOG.
Stuart L. Schreiber, PhD
Morris Loeb Professor
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Harvard University
Dr. Scheiber is known for small molecule-based discoveries concerning signal transduction by signaling proteins calcineurin and mTOR and gene regulation by chromatin-modifying histone deacetylases (HDAC), and for advancing chemical biology and medicine through the discovery of novel small-molecule probes.
Arlene H. Sharpe, MD, PhD
Chair and George Fabyan Professor of Comparative Pathology
Department of Immunology
Harvard Medical School
Dr. Sharpe is a leader in functional analysis of costimulatory pathways regulating T cell responses. This led to understanding ofthe roles of B7-1 and B7-2 as positive regulators through CD28; negative regulators through CTLA-4, and the role of PD-L1 and PD-L2 as negative regulators through PD-1. Her functional characterization of these pathways has provided critical insights that underpin the development of immunotherapies for cancer, autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection.
M. Celeste Simon, PhD
Scientific Director and Investigator
Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute
Associate Director-Shared Resources
Abramson Cancer Center
Arthur H. Rubenstein, MBBCh Professor
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Dr. Simon’s pioneering work determined that oxygen gradients, working through hypoxia-inducible factors and other O2 sensors, are essential for embryonic development, influencing stem cell behavior, angiogenesis, placentation, and hematopoiesis. Recent work demonstrated how oxygen availability significantly impacts diseases, including inflammation and cancer.
Albert L. Siu, MD, MSPH
Professor
Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Melding science, policy and health-services research, Dr. Siu has made seminal contributions to evidence-based practice. He led the US Preventive Services Task Force in articulating its role in insurance coverage. He pioneered programs intersecting geriatrics and palliative care, and led efforts to create new Medicare payment models for these programs.
Claire E. Sterk, PhD
Charles Howard Candler Professor in Public Health
President
Emory University
Dr. Sterk is the first foreign-born female president of Emory University. She is a leading academic administrator and an international figure in public health, sociology, and anthropology. As university president and a career NIH-funded scientist, she provides experienced leadership nationally and globally.
Susan E. Stone, DNSc, CNM, FACNM, FAAN
President, Frontier Nursing University
President, American College of Nurse-Midwives
Dr. Stone has led the development, growth, and excellence of Frontier Nursing University and their graduate nursing programs. Her achievements have opened the door to more than 6,000 nurses to achieve graduate education as nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners thereby positively impacting the accessibility of quality healthcare for rural families across the United States.
Sylvia Trent-Adams, PhD, RN, FAAN
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Dr. Trent-Adams has led US Department of Health and Human Services efforts, working with counterparts at WHO, the US Army and other governments to build systems of care and strengthen human resources for underserved populations. She has contributed to scientific and policy advances to improve health of persons living with HIV/AIDS.
Peter Walter, PhD
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Distinguished Professor
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
Dr. Walter discovered the signal recognition particle and defined its role in targeting secretory proteins to the ER. Walter also discovered the ER membrane signaling component, IRE1, that mediates the “unfolded-protein-response”, binding unfolded proteins in the ER lumen and cytosolically splicing an RNA encoding a transcription factor for ER components.
Xiaobin Wang, MD, MPH, ScD
Zanvyl Krieger Professor and Director
Center on Early Life Origins of Disease
Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Professor of Pediatrics
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Children’s Center
Dr. Wang is a pioneer pediatrician-molecular epidemiologist. She has established and led large-scale prospective birth cohort studies to investigate environmental and nutritional factors, genetic, epigenetic, and metabolomic biomarkers during critical developmental windows (in-utero, early childhood) in relation to life course and inter-generational health. Those studies have advanced our understanding of early life precursors of pediatric and chronic diseases, including preterm birth, asthma, food allergies, autism, ADHD, obesity, diabetes and hypertension.
Ronald J. Weigel, MD, PhD
EA Crowell Jr. Professor and Chair
Department of Surgery
University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
Dr. Weigel identified key drivers of hormone response in breast cancer and pioneered the technique of expression analysis from archival breast cancer specimens heralding the era of molecular diagnostics. He is a prominent leader nationally and established an outstanding research training program.
Rachel M. Werner, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Robert D. Eilers Professor of Health Economics
Executive Director, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics
University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Werner’s scholarship has advanced our understanding of how the measurement and reporting of health care quality, and the financial incentives tied to performance along those measures, often bring unintended and undesired equity consequences that compete with efficiency goals. Her work has changed how the nation evaluates and ties incentives to health care quality.
Janey L. Wiggs, MD, PhD
Paul Austin Chandler Professor of Ophthalmology
Vice Chair for Clinical Research in Ophthalmology
Harvard Medical School
Associate Chief, Ophthalmology
Associate Director, Ocular Genomics Institute
Massachusetts Eye and Ear
Associate Member, Broad Institute
As a medical geneticist, ophthalmologist and clinician scientist, Dr. Wiggs has achieved distinction in the field of ocular genetics. Notably, she discovered multiple genetic and environmental risk factors for glaucoma and has pioneered the development and use of novel gene-based diagnostic and screening tests for inherited eye diseases.
Teresa K. Woodruff, PhD
The Thomas J. Watkins Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Vice Chair for Research
Chief, Division of Reproductive Science in Medicine
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Dean of The Graduate School and Associate Provost for Graduate Education
Northwestern University
Dr. Woodruff cloned inhibin and activin, was first to mature human oocytes in vitro, discovered roles for zinc at the time of fertilization (zinc spark) and invented microfluidic systems that support 28-day reproductive cycles. She coined the term ‘oncofertility’ and developed this field in order to restore fertility for cancer patients.
King-Wai Yau, PhD
Professor of Neuroscience and Ophthalmology
The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Yau solved the first step in vision (phototransduction) in rods and cones, leading to understanding many associated hereditary blinding diseases. He also contributed greatly to understanding the ganglion-cell photoreceptors for non-image vision in regard to their functions, brain projections, and distinct phototransduction mechanisms.
