WASHINGTON — At its annual meeting today, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) honored four members for their outstanding service. The honorees are Martín-José Sepúlveda, distinguished university professor, Florida International University; Linda Birnbaum, retired, former director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program, and Scholar in Residence, Duke University; Linda McCauley, dean, Emory University School of Nursing; and Robert Phillips, executive director, Center for Professionalism and Value in Health Care, American Board of Family Medicine.
“I’m enormously grateful for the dedication these members have generously provided to the NAM and National Academies,” said National Academy of Medicine President Victor J. Dzau. “Their service and scientific leadership over the years have been vital to improving health and medicine for all, and it is an honor to recognize their incredible efforts.”
Sepúlveda received the Walsh McDermott Medal, which recognizes a member for distinguished service to the NAM and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine over an extended period. He was elected to NAM in 2014. Currently, he is chair of the NAM’s Section 12 on Health Services Administration, Research, Education, and Policy and the Section 12 Membership Committee, and is a member of the Culture of Health Program Advisory Committee.
Sepúlveda’s contributions include several National Academies roles, including as a member of the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice and the Board on Children, Youth, and Families, among others. He has served as chair or member of more than 12 study, planning, and advisory committees, beginning in the year 2000 with the committee that authored the consensus report Safe Work in the 21st Century: Education and Training Needs for the Next Decade’s Occupational Safety and Health Personnel. Sepúlveda went on to chair the committee for the consensus report Shaping Summertime Experiences: Opportunities to Promote Healthy Development and Well-Being for Children and Youth and co-chaired the committee for the consensus report The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding.
Birnbaum received the Adam Yarmolinsky Medal, which is awarded to a member from a discipline outside the health and medical sciences. Birnbaum is among the most distinguished toxicologists, with extensive leadership and service to the field of environmental and occupational health sciences.
She served for 10 years as director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program. Prior to that she spent 20 years in scientific leaderships roles in the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including serving as its director for 10 years. Birnbaum has served as president of the Society of Toxicology, the largest professional organization of toxicologists in the world, and in leadership roles at numerous other professional organizations and the editorial boards of several journals.
Birnbaum has received over 60 awards and honors from the government, professional societies, nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions. Included among these are election to the Collegium Ramazzini, an independent, international academy of experts in the fields of occupational and environmental health; the NIH Director’s Award in 2011; and the Surgeon General’s Medallion in 2014. Birnbaum was elected to the NAM in 2010 and established and provided support for the National Academies’ Environmental Health Matters Initiative.
McCauley and Phillips were each a recipient of the David Rall Medal, which is given to a member who has demonstrated distinguished leadership as chair of a study committee or other such activity. Together, they are recognized for leading the successful National Academies consensus study committee that produced the 2021 report Implementing High-Quality Primary Care: Rebuilding the Foundation of Health Care.
As co-chairs, McCauley and Phillips provided unwavering leadership of the committee’s work during a global pandemic, with the committee’s first meeting held in person in January 2020 and the remainder held remotely. Since the report’s publication, they have demonstrated their continued commitment to amplifying the report and to the implementation of the committee’s recommendations to strengthen the U.S. primary care system. Within a few months of the report’s release, McCauley and Phillips convened meetings with public and private sponsors to ensure the report recommendations were understood and that concrete steps were being taken toward implementation. They have launched a wide range of efforts to encourage putting the report recommendations into action, including creating multiple publications tailored to key target audiences, holding dozens of national meetings and workshops to catalyze action, meeting with state and national legislatures, and charging national organizations to be accountable for change.
The National Academy of Medicine, established in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine, is an independent organization of eminent professionals from diverse fields including health and medicine; the natural, social, and behavioral sciences; and beyond. It serves alongside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering as an adviser to the nation and the international community. Through its domestic and global initiatives, the NAM works to address critical issues in health, medicine, and related policy and inspire positive action across sectors. The NAM collaborates closely with its peer academies and other divisions within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Contact:
Dana Korsen, Director of Media Relations
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; email news@nas.edu