At its annual meeting today, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) honored four members for their outstanding service. The honorees are Edward Shortliffe, adjunct professor and chair emeritus, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University; Kenneth Olden, director emeritus, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; Linda P. Fried, dean and DeLamar Professor of Public Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; and John E.I. Wong, executive director, Center for Population Health, National University of Singapore.
“The decades of service and generosity these members have shown to the NAM make them remarkably deserving of this recognition,” said National Academy of Medicine President Victor J. Dzau. “From advancing healthy longevity around the globe to reshaping environmental health and leading NAM initiatives, it is an honor for us to recognize these individuals’ expertise, hard work, and diligence — all in the name of advancing health and science to new frontiers.”
Shortliffe 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 1987. In addition to being on the NAM Council for six years, he also served two full terms on the membership committee and as chair of the full membership committee from 2018 to 2020.
His contributions also include several National Academies roles, including as a member of the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board and the Committee on National Statistics, among others. In total, Shortliffe has been a member of 13 committees and chaired seven committees, including for the National Academies consensus reports Medications in Single-Dose Vials: Implications of Discarded Drugs and A Smarter National Surveillance System for Occupational Safety and Health in the 21st Century. He is a current member of the NAM’s Health Policy and Health Care Systems committee and the National Associates Program.
Olden received the Adam Yarmolinsky Medal, which is awarded to a member from a discipline outside the health and medical sciences. Throughout his distinguished career, Olden has contributed to the health of all Americans as a first-class scientist and a humanitarian with a lifelong focus on the environment and justice, particularly for people living in poverty, children, and people of color.
Olden served as director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), where he targeted health science investments toward marginalized and underserved communities and ensuring impacted communities were represented in decision-making, while also educating NIEHS staff, all in pursuit of environmental justice. Working with the EPA, Olden conceived of and funded the NIEHS/EPA Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers in 1998, which has changed the course of research in environmental health in the U.S. After leaving the NIEHS, Olden was the founding dean of the School of Public Health at Hunter College, City University of New York, and directed the EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment and Human Health Risk Assessment Research Program. He has also made significant scientific contributions by training more than two dozen postdoctoral fellows, and through over 220 publications. The NIEHS hosts an annual Olden Lecture Series in his honor. Olden was elected to the NAM in 1994 and supported its establishment of the National Academies’ Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine.
Fried and Wong 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 the remarkable success of the NAM’s first Grand Challenge, the Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity initiative, which they co-chaired. Fried has a long history of commitment to NAM and the field of public health and aging, and Wong has led national efforts in aging, cancer, and precision medicine.
As co-chairs, Fried and Wong worked tirelessly to fulfill and enhance the vision for the grand challenge, driving its far-ranging approach and showing careful consideration in selecting the first topic on which to focus. Beginning in 2019, Fried and Wong worked synergistically through three years of report development — including leading the committee during a global pandemic, pausing at times to allow the committee’s public health experts to focus on COVID-19 in their home nations — and publishing their groundbreaking report in August 2022. Their innovative approach to the roadmap started with a vision for healthy longevity in 2050, and then worked to determine the changes needed to make that vision a reality. They held three global workshops, ran several working groups, and conducted consultations with regional experts. The committee’s work has already had a significant impact — with launch events held in Singapore, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Japan, and China, and planning underway for events in Africa and Latin America. The report has received international recognition and continues to shape the development of the NAM’s other grand challenges.
