Membership in the National Academy of Medicine is based upon:

• distinguished professional achievement in a field related to medicine and health;
• demonstrated and continued involvement with the issues of health care, prevention of disease, education, or research;
• skills and resources likely to contribute to achieving the Academy’s mission; and
• willingness to be an active participant in the work of the Academy.

The NAM Articles of Organization stipulate that at least one-quarter of the membership shall be selected from fields outside the health professions that interface with health and medicine, such as the natural, social, computational and behavioral sciences, as well as law, administration, and engineering.

The election of individuals to the National Academy of Medicine begins with a confidential nomination by two NAM members who are well acquainted with the candidate’s work. In sponsoring the nomination, the NAM member affirms his or her personal assessment that the candidate meets the NAM’s primary criterion of excellence and outstanding professional achievement in a field relevant to the mission of the NAM. Each year, up to 90 regular members and 10 international members are elected to the NAM by the regular membership body at large. The annual nomination cycle begins on November 1 and closes on February 1. The election takes place in late summer with new members announced in conjunction with the NAM Annual Meeting in October.

U.S. members of the Class of 2021 are:

Samuel Achilefu, PhD, Michel M. Ter-Pogossian Professor of Radiology and director of the Optical Imaging Laboratory, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine. For outstanding contributions in the field of optical imaging for identifying sites of disease and characterizing biologic phenomena non-invasively.

Alexandra K. Adams, MD, PhD, director, Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity, and professor of sociology and anthropology, Montana State University. For her work partnering with Indigenous communities in the Midwest and Montana and pioneering community-engaged research methods.

Michelle Asha Albert, MD, MPH, professor, Walter A. Haas-Lucie Stern Endowed Chair in Cardiology, and admissions dean, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine; and director, CeNter for the StUdy of AdveRsiTy and CardiovascUlaR DiseasE (NURTURE Center). For pioneering research at the intersection of psychosocial stress (including discrimination), social inequities, and the biochemical markers of heart disease, and her unique interdisciplinary lens that has illuminated root causes of cardiovascular disease and facilitated the identification of interventions to reduce cardiovascular disease risks for diverse racial/ethnic groups and women. 

Guillermo Antonio Ameer, ScD, Daniel Hale Williams Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. For pioneering contributions to regenerative engineering and medicine through the development, dissemination, and translation of citrate-based biomaterials, a new class of biodegradable polymers that enabled the commercialization of innovative medical devices approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in a variety of surgical procedures.

Jamy D. Ard, MD, professor of epidemiology and prevention, Wake Forest School of Medicine. For his varied use of individually tailored, state-of-the-art approaches to treat obesity, profoundly impact his patients’ health and well-being, and reduce the burden of diseases associated with obesity, such as heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension.

John M. Balbus, MD, MPH, interim director, Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and senior adviser for public health, National Institute of Environmental Health Science, National Institutes of Health. For leadership in confronting the health challenges of climate change — from developing the first risk assessment approaches to working at the interface of science and U.S. national policy.

Carolina Barillas-Mury, MD, PhD, distinguished investigator, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institutes of Health. For discovering how plasmodium parasites manipulate the mosquito immune system to survive, and how these interactions maintain global malaria transmission. 

Shari Barkin, MD, MSHS, William K. Warren Endowed Chair and professor of pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center. For pioneering pragmatic randomized controlled trials in community settings, undertaken in collaboration with parents and community partners, and addressing health disparities in pediatric obesity.

Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, Richard E. Wilson MD Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School; associate surgeon, Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center; and group chair, Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. For numerous leadership roles in multi-institutional cancer clinical research consortia and advancing the quality and scope of research to bring important new treatments to people with cancer.

Luciana Lopes Borio, MD, senior fellow for global health, Council on Foreign Relations; and venture partner, Arch Venture Partners. For expertise on scientific and policy matters related to biodefense and public health emergencies.

Erik Brodt, MD, associate professor of family medicine, Oregon Health & Science University. For leadership in American Indian/Alaska Native workforce development and pioneering innovative methods to identify, inspire, and support American Indian/Alaska Native youth to excel.

Kendall Marvin Campbell, MD, FAAFP, professor and chair, department of family medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston. For his work in assessing academic and community factors impacting the development of a diverse medical workforce to further health equity, co-developing a Center for Underrepresented Minorities in Academic Medicine, and creating a research group for underrepresented minorities in academic medicine, presenting and publishing his findings regionally and nationally.

Pablo A. Celnik, MD, Lawrence Cardinal Shehan Professor of Rehabilitation and director, department of physical medicine and rehabilitation, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; physiatrist-in-chief, Johns Hopkins Hospital; and director of rehabilitation, Johns Hopkins Medicine. For work that has transformed our understanding of the physiologic mediators of human motor learning and identified actionable mechanisms for augmenting its acquisition and retention.

David Clapham, MD, PhD, vice president and chief scientific officer, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI); group leader, HHMI Janelia Research Campus; and Aldo R. Castañeda Professor of Cardiovascular Research, emeritus, and professor of neurobiology, Harvard Medical School. For making paradigm-shifting discoveries in the field of ion channel signaling. 

Mandy Krauthamer Cohen, MD, MPH, secretary, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. For creating a strategic alignment of Medicaid, public health, and behavioral health and human services designed to bring about critical improvements in health during her tenure as North Carolina’s secretary of health and human services.

Daniel E. Dawes, JD, executive director, Satcher Health Leadership Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine. For national leadership in health equity, and whose groundbreaking books “150 Years of Obamacare” and “Political Determinants of Health” have reframed the conversation and led to actionable policy solutions.

Ted M. Dawson, MD, PhD, director, Institute for Cell Engineering; Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Professor in Neurodegenerative Diseases; and professor of neurology, neuroscience, and pharmacology and molecular sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. For pioneering and seminal work on how neurons degenerate in Parkinson’s disease and providing insights into the development of disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson’s disease and other neurologic disorders.

Job Dekker, PhD, Joseph J. Byrne Chair in Biomedical Research and professor, department of systems biology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School; and investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute. For introducing the groundbreaking concept that matrices of genomic interactions can be used to determine chromosome conformation.

Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, JD, partner and co-founder, Consonance Capital Partners. For her leadership in the development and passage of the Affordable Care Act, major role as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and work on various NAM committees.

Maximilian Diehn, MD, PhD, associate professor, vice chair of research, and division chief of radiation and cancer biology, department of radiation oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine. For developing and clinically translating novel diagnostic technologies for facilitating precision medicine techniques, and for integrating advanced precision medicine into the area of liquid biopsies.

Kafui Dzirasa, MD, PhD, K. Ranga Rama Krishnan Associate Professor, department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Duke University Medical Center. For seminal contributions to the neuroscience of emotion and mental illness; for pioneering methods for massively parallel neural recordings and analysis thereof in mice; and for contributions to society through science policy and advocacy, a commitment to mentoring, and support for efforts to build a diverse and inclusive scientific workforce.

Katherine A. Fitzgerald, PhD, professor of medicine, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. For pioneering work on innate immune receptors, signaling pathways, and regulation of inflammatory gene expression.

Yuman Fong, MD, Sangiacomo Family Chair in Surgical Oncology, chair, department of surgery, City of Hope. For transforming the fields of liver surgery, robotics in surgery, imaging and display in medicine, and gene therapy.

Howard Frumkin, MD, DrPh, professor emeritus, University of Washington School of Public Health. For his work on health impacts from the environment, including those from climate change and other planetary processes, and on healthy pathways to sustainability.

Andrés J. Garcia PhD, executive director, Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, and Regents’ Professor, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. For significant contributions to new biomaterial platforms that elicit targeted tissue repair, innovative technologies to exploit cell adhesive interactions, and mechanistic insights into mechanobiology.

Darrell J. Gaskin, PhD, MS, William C. and Nancy F. Richardson Professor in Health Policy and Management, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University. For his work as a leading health economist and health services researcher who has advanced fundamental understanding of the role of place as a driver in racial and ethnic health disparities.

Wondwossen Abebe Gebreyes, DVM, PhD, Hazel C. Youngberg Distinguished Professor, and executive director, Global One Health Initiative, Ohio State University. For leadership in molecular epidemiology and global health and fundamental insight into how animal agricultural and environmental systems influence public health, community development, and livelihood worldwide.

Jessica Gill, RN, PhD, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. For reporting (along with her team) that acute plasma tau predicts prolonged return to play after a sport-related concussion.

Paul Ginsburg, PhD, professor of health policy, Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California (USC); senior fellow, USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics; and nonresident senior fellow, Brookings Institution. For his leading role in shaping health policy by founding three influential organizations: the Physician Payment Review Commission (now MedPAC); the Center for Studying Health System Change; and the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy.

Sherita Hill Golden, MD, MHS, Hugh P. McCormick Family Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism; and vice president and chief diversity officer, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. For identifying biological and systems contributors to disparities in diabetes and its outcomes.

Joseph Gone, PhD, professor of global health and social medicine, Harvard Medical School; professor of anthropology, Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences; and faculty director, Harvard University Native American Program. For being a leading figure among Native American mental health researchers whose work on cultural psychology, historical trauma, Indigenous healing, and contextual factors affecting mental health assessment and treatment has been highly influential and widely recognized.

John D. Grabenstein, RPh, PhD, president, Vaccine Dynamics, and retired U.S. Army colonel. For establishing vaccination services by pharmacists across the U.S. by developing nationally adopted policy frameworks and curricula that trained more than 360,000 pharmacists as vaccinators, enabling rapid, widespread delivery of COVID-19 and other vaccines; for advancing international vaccination and medical countermeasure programs; and for contributions to pharmacy national leadership development.

Linda G. Griffith, PhD, professor of biological and mechanical engineering and director, Center for Gynepathology Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). For long-standing leadership in research, education, and medical translation; for pioneering work in tissue engineering, biomaterials, and systems biology, including developing the first “liver chip” technology; inventing 3D biomaterials printing and organotypic models for systems gynopathology; and for the establishment of the MIT Biological Engineering Department.

Taekjip Ha, PhD, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, biophysics and biophysical chemistry, biophysics, and biomedical engineering, Johns Hopkins University; and investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute. For co-inventing the single-molecule FRET (smFRET) technology and making numerous technological innovations, which enabled powerful biological applications to DNA, RNA, and nucleic acid enzymes involved in genome maintenance.

William C. Hahn, MD, PhD, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and William Rosenberg Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. For fundamental contributions in the understanding of cancer initiation, maintenance, and progression.

Helena Hansen, MD, PhD, chair, research theme in health equity and translational social science, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles. For leadership in the intersection of opioid addiction, race and ethnicity, social determinants of health, and social medicine; and for co-developing structural competency as clinical redress for institutional drivers of health inequalities.

Mary Elizabeth Hatten, PhD, Frederick P. Rose Professor and head, Laboratory of Developmental Neurobiology, Rockefeller University. For foundational developmental studies of cerebellum that have broad significance for understanding human brain disorders, including autism, medulloblastoma, and childhood epilepsy.

Mary T. Hawn, MD, MPH, Emile Holman Professor and chair of surgery, Stanford University. For being a leading surgeon, educator, and health services researcher whose innovative work has built valid measurements for quality care, improved care standards, and changed surgical care guidelines.

Zhigang He, MD, PhD, professor of neurology and ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School; and Boston Children’s Hospital principal member, Harvard Stem Cell Institute. For his breakthrough discoveries regarding the mechanisms of axon regeneration and functional repair following central nervous system injuries, providing foundational knowledge and molecular targets for developing restorative therapies to treat spinal cord injury, stroke, glaucoma, and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Hugh Carroll Hemmings Jr., MD, PhD, FRCA, senior associate dean for research, Joseph F. Artusio Jr. Professor, chair of the department of anesthesiology, and professor of pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine. For being a pioneer in the neuropharmacology of general anesthetic mechanisms on neurotransmitter release, including effects on voltage-gated ion channels critical to producing unconsciousness, amnesia, and paralysis.

Rene Hen, PhD, professor of psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. For discovering the role of neurogenesis in the mechanism of action of antidepressant medications and making seminal contributions to our understanding of serotonin receptors in health and disease.

Helen Elisabeth Heslop, MD, DSc (Hon), Dan L. Duncan Chair, professor of pediatrics and medicine, and director, Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine. For pioneering work in complex biological therapies, leadership in clinical immunotherapy, and for being the first to employ donor and banked cytotoxic T cells to treat lethal virus-associated malignancies and infections in pivotal trials.

Renee Yuen-Jan Hsia, MD, MSc, professor of emergency medicine and health policy, and associate chair of health services research, department of emergency medicine, University of California, San Francisco. For expertise in health disparities of emergency care, integrating the disciplines of economics, health policy, and clinical investigation.

Lori L. Isom, PhD, Maurice H. Seevers Professor of Pharmacology and chair, department of pharmacology, professor of molecular and integrative physiology, and professor of neurology, University of Michigan Medical School. For discovering sodium channel non-pore-forming beta subunits and leadership in understanding novel neuro-cardiac mechanisms of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy.

Kathrin U. Jansen, PhD, senior vice president and head of vaccine research and development, Pfizer Inc. For leading the teams that produced three revolutionary vaccines: Gardasil, targeting human papillomavirus; Prevnar 13, targeting 13 strains of pneumococcus; and the Pfizer/BioNTech SARS-Covid-2 mRNA vaccine.   

Christine Kreuder Johnson, VMD, MPVM, PhD, professor of epidemiology and ecosystem health, and director, EpiCenter for Disease Dynamics, One Health Institute at the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. For work as a pioneering investigator in global health, data science and technology, and interdisciplinary disease investigations and in identifying and predicting impacts of environmental change on health, and creating novel worldwide outbreak preparedness strategies and paradigm shifting synergies for environmental stewardship to protect people, animals, and ecosystems.

Mariana Julieta Kaplan, MD, chief, systemic autoimmunity branch, and deputy scientific director, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health. For seminal contributions that have significantly advanced the understanding of the pathogenic role of the innate immune system in systemic autoimmune diseases, atherosclerosis, and immune-mediated vasculopathies.

Elisa Konofagou, PhD, Robert and Margaret Hariri Professor of Biomedical Engineering and professor of radiology (physics), Columbia University. For leadership and innovation in ultrasound and other advanced imaging modalities and their application in the clinical management of significant health care problems such as cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer, through licensing to the major imaging companies.

Jay Lemery, MD, FACEP, FAWM, professor of emergency medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine. For being a scholar, educator, and advocate on the effects of climate change on human health, with special focus on the impacts on vulnerable populations.

Joan L. Luby, MD, Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Child Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. For elucidating the clinical characteristics and neural correlates of early childhood depression, a crucial public health concern. 

Kenneth David Mandl, MD, MPH, Donald A.B. Lindberg Professor of Pediatrics and Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School; and director, computational health informatics program, Boston Children’s Hospital. For creating technological solutions to clinical and public health problems.

Jennifer J. Manly, PhD, professor, department of neurology and the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University Irving Medical Center. For her pioneering work improving detection of cognitive impairment among racially, culturally, and socio-economically diverse adults that has had a profound impact on the field of neuropsychology, and her visionary research on the social, biological, and behavioral pathways between early life education and later life cognitive function.

Elizabeth M. McNally, MD, PhD, director, Center for Genetic Medicine, Elizabeth J. Ward Professor of Genetic Medicine, and professor of medicine (cardiology), biochemistry, and molecular genetics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. For discovering genetic variants responsible for multiple distinct inherited cardiac and skeletal myopathic disorders and pioneering techniques for mapping modifiers of single gene disorders by integrating genomic and transcriptomic data to define the pathways that mediate disease risk and progression.

Nancy Messonnier, MD, executive director, pandemic prevention and health systems, Skoll Foundation. For her efforts in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and building a global preparedness and response system to prevent future pandemics.

Michelle Monje, MD, PhD, associate professor, department of neurology and neurological sciences, Stanford University Medical Center. For making groundbreaking discoveries at the intersection of neurodevelopment, neuroplasticity, and brain tumor biology.

Vamsi K. Mootha, MD, professor of systems biology, Harvard Medical School; investigator, Massachusetts General Hospital; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and member, Broad Institute. For transforming the field of mitochondrial biology by creatively combining modern genomics with classical bioenergetics.

Lennart Mucke, MD, director, Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease, Gladstone Institutes; and Joseph B. Martin Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience, department of neurology, University of California, San Francisco. For his leading role in defining molecular and pathophysiological mechanisms by which Alzheimer’s disease causes synaptic failure, neural network dysfunctions, and cognitive decline. 

Vivek Hallegere Murthy, MD, MBA, 19^th and 21^st surgeon general of the United States, Office of the Surgeon General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For being the first person to be nominated twice as surgeon general of the U.S., and leading the national response to some of America’s greatest public health challenges: the Ebola and Zika viruses, the opioid crisis, an epidemic of stress and loneliness, and now the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jane Wimpfheimer Newburger, MD, MPH, Commonwealth Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; and associate cardiologist-in-chief, academic affairs, Boston Children’s Hospital. For her world-renowned work in pediatric-acquired and congenital heart diseases.

Keith C. Norris, MD, PhD, professor and executive vice chair for equity, diversity, and inclusion, department of medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); and co-director, community engagement research program, UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute. For making substantive intellectual, scientific, and policy contributions to the areas of chronic kidney disease and health disparities in under-resourced minority communities; developing transformative methods for community-partnered research; and developing and implementing innovative programs that have successfully increased diversity in the biomedical/health workforce.

Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS, C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine, Public Health, and Management, and associate dean of health equity research, Yale School of Medicine. For notable contributions to health equity that have been distinguished nationally, including being named chair of the Governor’s ReOpen CT Advisory Group Community Committee, co-chair of President Biden’s Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board, and chair of the U.S. COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.

Osagie Obasogie, JD, PhD, Haas Distinguished Chair and professor of law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law; and professor of bioethics, Joint Medical Program and School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. For bringing multidisciplinary insights to understanding race and medicine and climatic disruptions that threaten to exacerbate health inequalities.

Jacqueline Nwando Olayiwola, MD, MPH, FAAFP, chief health equity officer and senior vice president, Humana Inc.; and adjunct professor, Ohio State University School of Medicine and College of Public Health. For innovation in health equity, primary care and health systems transformation, health information technology, and workforce diversity; being the architect of many profound delivery innovations for underserved communities; and leadership efforts in making the U.S. and other health systems more efficient, effective, and equitable.

Bruce Ovbiagele, MD, MSc, MAS, MBA, MLS, professor of neurology and associate dean, University of California, San Francisco; and chief of staff, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System. For leading several pioneering National Institutes of Health-funded research programs addressing the burden of stroke in vulnerable populations (racial and ethnic minorities, the socioeconomically disadvantaged, the uninsured, and rural dwellers) in the U.S. and Africa, as well as creating transformative NIH-supported training initiatives in both regions targeting individuals who are underrepresented in medicine and science.

Drew Pardoll, MD, PhD, Abeloff Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; and director, Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. For discovering two immune cell types and leadership in cancer immunotherapy, which has revolutionized oncology.

Guillermo Prado, PhD, MS, vice provost, faculty affairs; dean, Graduate School; and professor of nursing and health studies, and public health sciences and psychology, University of Miami. For his scholarship in prevention science, and for his effective youth- and family-focused HIV and substance-use prevention interventions, which have been scaled throughout school systems and clinical settings in the U.S. and Latin America.

Carla M. Pugh, MD, PhD, FACS, professor of surgery and director, Technology Enabled Clinical Improvement (T.E.C.I.) Center, department of surgery, Stanford University. For pioneering sensor technology research that helped to define, characterize, and inspire new and innovative performance metrics and data analysis strategies for the emerging field of digital health care.

Charles M. Rice, PhD, Maurice R. and Corinne P. Greenberg Professor and head, Laboratory of Virology and Infectious Disease, Rockefeller University. For helping to identify the hepatitis C virus proteins required for viral replication and developing culture systems that enabled the discovery of direct-acting antiviral drugs that can cure virtually all infected patients who would otherwise risk premature death from liver failure and cancer.

Marylyn D. Ritchie, PhD, FACMI, professor, department of genetics; director, Center for Translational Bioinformatics; associate director, Institute for Biomedical Informatics; and associate director, Penn Center for Precision Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. For paradigm-changing research demonstrating the utility of electronic health records for identifying clinical diseases or phenotypes that can be integrated with genomic data from biobanks for genomic medicine discovery and implementation science.

Yvette D. Roubideaux, MD, MPH, director, Policy Research Center, National Congress of American Indians. For pioneering the translation of evidence-based interventions to reduce incident diabetes and related cardiovascular complications among tens of thousands of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Eric J. Rubin, MD, PhD, editor-in-chief, New England Journal of Medicine. For pioneering bacterial genetic tools being used to create the next generation of anti-tuberculosis drugs.

Renee N. Salas, MD, MPH, MS, affiliated faculty, Harvard Global Health Institute; Yerby Fellow, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and attending physician, department of emergency medicine, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. For rapidly advancing the medical community’s understanding at the nexus of climate change, health, and health care through highly influential and transformative work, such as with the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Thomas Sequist, MD, MPH, chief patient experience and equity officer, Mass General Brigham; and professor of medicine and health care policy, Harvard Medical School. For expertise in Native American health, quality of care, and health care equity.

Kosali Ilayperuma Simon, PhD, Class of 1948 Herman Wells Professor and associate vice provost for health sciences, O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University. For her scholarly insights on how economic and social factors interact with government regulations to affect health care delivery and population health.

Melissa Andrea Simon, MD, MPH, George H. Gardner Professor of Clinical Gynecology and professor of obstetrics and gynecology, medical social sciences, and preventive medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. For paradigm-shifting implementation research that has elevated the science of health care disparities and has transformed women’s health practice, policy, and outcomes.

Anil Kumar Sood, MD, FACOG, FACS, professor and vice chair for translational research, department of gynecologic oncology and reproductive medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. For discovering the mechanistic basis of chronic stress on cancer and the pivotal role of tumor-IL6 in causing paraneoplastic thrombocytosis; developing the first RNAi therapeutics and translating multiple new drugs from lab to clinic; and devising and implementing a paradigm shifting surgical algorithm for advanced ovarian cancer, dramatically increasing complete resection rates.

Reisa Sperling, MD, director, Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment; associate neurologist, department of neurology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital; and professor of neurology, Harvard Medical School. For pioneering clinical research that revolutionized the concept of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease.

Sarah Loeb Szanton, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean and Patricia M. Davidson Health Equity and Social Justice Endowed Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. For pioneering new approaches to reducing health disparities among low-income older adults.

Sarah A. Tishkoff, PhD, David and Lynn Silfen University Professor, departments of genetics and biology; and director, Center for Global Genomics and Health Equity, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. For being a pioneer of African evolutionary genomics research.

Peter Tontonoz, MD, PhD, professor and Francis and Albert Piansky Chair, department of pathology and laboratory medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles. For being a pioneer in molecular lipid metabolism, defining basic physiology and revealing connections to human disease.

JoAnn Trejo, PhD, MBA, professor of pharmacology and assistant vice chancellor, health sciences, faculty affairs, University of California, San Diego. For her discoveries of how cellular responses are regulated by G protein-coupled receptors in the context of vascular inflammation and cancer.

Gilbert Rivers Upchurch Jr., MD, Edward M. Copeland III and Ann and Ira Horowitz Chair, department of surgery, University of Florida College of Medicine. For making seminal contributions to the understanding of the pathogenesis of vascular disease and contributing greatly to the advancement of all aspects of vascular and surgical care.

Tener Goodwin Veenema, PhD, MPH, MS, FAAN, contributing scholar, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. For her career-long dedication to advancing the science on climate change and health, particularly in the area of disaster nursing.

Leslie Birgit Vosshall, PhD, Robin Chemers Neustein Professor, Rockefeller University; and investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute. For building the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti into a genetic model organism for neurobiology and uncovering major insights into how these disease-vectoring insects select and feed on the blood of human hosts.

Rochelle Paula Walensky, MD, MPH, director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For her work that motivated changes to HIV and COVID-19 guidelines, influenced public health practice, and provided rigorous evidence for decisions by the U.S. Congress, the World Health Organization, and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

Elizabeth Winzeler, PhD, professor, department of pediatrics, division of host microbe systems and therapeutics, University of California San Diego. For pioneering work on antimalarial drug development.

Cynthia Wolberger, PhD, professor, department of biophysics and biophysical chemistry and department of oncology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. For pioneering structural studies elucidating molecular mechanisms underlying combinatorial regulation of transcription, ubiquitin signaling, and epigenetic histone modifications, which have provided a foundation for drug discovery.

Anita K.M. Zaidi, MBBS, SM, president, gender equality; and director of vaccine development and surveillance and of enteric and diarrheal diseases, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. For global leadership in pediatric infectious disease research and capacity development relevant to improving newborn and child survival in developing countries.

Shannon Nicole Zenk, PhD, MPH, RN, director, National Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health. For research on the built environment in racial/ethnic minority and low-income neighborhoods that enriched understanding of the factors that influence health and contribute to health disparities, demonstrating the need for multilevel approaches to improve health and achieve health equity.

Feng Zhang, PhD, James and Patricia Poitras Professor of Neuroscience, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For revolutionizing molecular biology and powering transformative leaps forward in our ability to study and treat human diseases through the discovery of novel microbial enzymes and systems and their development as molecular technologies, such as optogenetics and CRISPR-mediated genome editing, and for outstanding mentoring and professional services.

 

International members of the Class of 2021 are:

Richard M.K. Adanu, MBChB, MPH, FWACS, FGCS, FACOG, rector and professor of women’s reproductive health, University of Ghana School of Public Health. For spearheading human resource and research capacity building in Ghana and personally engaging in South-South research capacity building in sub-Saharan Africa.

Hilary O.D. Critchley, MBChB, MD, FRCOG, FMedSci, FRSE, professor of reproductive medicine, MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, Queen’s Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh. For pioneering fundamental studies on endometrial physiology (including endocrine-immune interactions, role/regulation of local inflammatory mediators, and tissue injury and repair) that have made major contributions to the understanding of mechanisms regulating onset of menstruation/menstrual disorders.

Jennifer Leigh Gardy, PhD, deputy director, surveillance, data, and epidemiology, malaria team, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. For pioneering work as a big data scientist, harnessing innovation and communication to bring interdisciplinary problem-solving and leading-edge technologies to bear to elucidate infectious disease dynamics in the face of a changing climate, and for using the new domain of pathogen genomics to improve population health around the globe.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, MSc, director general, World Health Organization. For undertaking the major transformation of the World Health Organization, promoting primary health care and equity, effectively controlling Ebola outbreaks, and leading the global response to COVID-19.

Tricia Greenhalgh, OBE, MA, MD, PhD, MBA, FMedSci, FRCP, FRCGP, FFPH, FFCI, FHEA, professor of primary care health sciences, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford. For major contributions to the study of innovation and knowledge translation in health care and work to raise the profile of qualitative social sciences.

Edith Heard, FRS, director general, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, and professor, Collège de France. For contributions to the fields of epigenetics and chromosome and nuclear organization through her work on the process of X-inactivation.

Matshidiso Moeti, MD, MSc, regional director for Africa, World Health Organization (WHO). For leading WHO’s work in Africa, including interruption of wild poliovirus transmission, advocating proactive action on climate change and health, and responding to COVID-19, Ebola, HIV, and other public health priorities, and for transforming the organization to be more effective, results driven, and accountable.

John-Arne Rottingen, MD, PhD, ambassador for global health, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For advancing the conceptual underpinnings on incentivizing innovations to meet major public health needs and secure widespread access.

Samba Ousemane Sow, MD, MSc, FASTMH, director-general, Centre pour les Vaccins en Développement, Mali (CVD-Mali). For groundbreaking vaccine field studies paving the way for implementing life-saving vaccines into Mali’s Expanded Programme on Immunization; pioneering studies of disease burden and etiology of diarrheal illness and pneumonia, major causes of pediatric mortality in Africa; and leadership in control of emerging infections (Ebola, COVID-19) in Mali and West Africa.

Gustavo Turecki, MD, PhD, FRSC, professor and chair, department of psychiatry, McGill University; and scientific director and psychiatrist-in-chief, Douglas Institute. For work in elucidating mechanisms whereby early-life adversity increases lifetime suicide risk.

Dr. Dzau is an internationally acclaimed physician scientist and leader whose work has improved health and medicine in the United States and globally. His seminal work in cardiovascular medicine and genetics laid the foundation for the development of the class of lifesaving drugs known as ACE inhibitors, used globally to treat hypertension and heart failure. Dr. Dzau pioneered gene therapy for vascular disease and was the first to introduce DNA decoy molecules in humans in vivo. His pioneering research in cardiac regeneration led to the Paracrine Hypothesis of stem cell action and his recent strategy of direct cardiac reprogramming using microRNA. He maintains an active NIH-funded research laboratory.

Dr. Dzau is a leader in health and heath policy. At the NAM, he has led important initiatives such as  Vital Directions for Health and Health Care, the Action Collaborative on Countering the US Opioid Epidemic, and the Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience. Under his tenure, the NAM has advanced efforts to improve health equity and address racism throughout its programmatic activities, especially the Culture of Health Program. Most recently, the NAM launched a Grand Challenge in Climate Change and Human Health & Equity to reverse the negative effects of climate change on health and social equity by activating the entire biomedical community, communicating and educating the public about climate change and health, driving changes through research, innovation and policy, and leading bold action to decarbonize the health care sector.

As a global health leader, he helped design and launch the National Academies initiatives on Global Health Risk Framework; Global Health and Future Role of the US; Crossing the Global Quality Chasm and Human Genome Editing. The NAM Global Grand Challenge for Healthy Longevity represents his vision to inspire across disciplines and sectors to coalesce around a shared priority and audacious goal to advance health.

He has led the NAM’s response to COVID-19, which includes numerous committees, reports, consultations and communication on a range of issues including public health, vaccine allocation, health equity and mental health. He has worked tirelessly to engage with the global response to COVD-19 by providing leadership as a member of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, co-chair of the G20 Scientific Expert Panel on Global Health Security, Advisor to the G20 High Level Independent Panel on Financing and a principal of the ACT-Accelerator which includes COVAX, the global collaboration for accelerating the development, manufacture and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. 

He is active in advising science and health in US and globally. He has served as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), chaired the NIH Cardiovascular Disease Advisory Committee and NHLBI Cardiovascular Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium. Currently, he chairs the Cardiovascular Progenitor Cell Translational Consortium. He is a member of the Health and Biomedical Sciences International Advisory Council of Singapore, as well as a board member of the Imperial College Health Partners, UK and the Gairdner Foundation. He chairs the International Scientific Advisory Committee of the Qatar Precision Medicine Institute, the Scientific Boards of the Peter Munk Cardiac Center, University of Toronto and Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, University of Glasgow. He served on the Board of Health Governors of the World Economic Forum and chairs its Global Futures Council on Healthy Longevity.

Among his many honors and recognitions are the Max Delbreck Medal from Charite, Humboldt and Max Planck, Germany, the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Heart Association, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and the Henry Freisen International Prize. In 2019, he was named an Honorary Citizen of Singapore- the highest level of honor bestowed to a foreign citizen conferred by the President of Singapore. He has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, UK Academy of Medical Sciences, the Japan Academy, Mexican Academy of Medicine, Chinese Academy of Engineering and Academia Sinica. He has received 16 honorary doctorates.

Prior to his posts at the NAM, Dr. McGinnis was Senior Vice President at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (1999-2005); Chair of the World Bank & European Commission Task Force for Health Reconstruction in Bosnia (1995-6); Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Princeton and Duke (1996-9); Acting Director of the HHS Office of Research Integrity (1992-3); state director of World Health Organization smallpox eradication program in Uttar Pradesh, India (1974-5); and Coordinator of the U.S.-Eastern European Cooperative Health Programs (1972-4).

He is the architect of various national-level activities, including the Healthy People national health goals and objectives (HHS, 1979-ongoing); the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (HHS/USDA, 1980-ongoing); the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (independent, HHS-supported, 1984-ongoing); the Health & Society Scholars Program (RWJF, 2002-2017); the Young Epidemiology Scholars Program (RWJF, 2001-2012); the NAM Learning Health System initiative (NAM, 2006-ongoing); and the Action Collaboratives modus operandi of the National Academies (2009-ongoing).

His national-level chair duties have included: Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science Senior Advisory Group (2016-2019); National Governors Association Committee on Childhood Obesity (2008-10); Partnership for Prevention Health Professionals Roundtable on Preventive Services (2004-13); NIH State of the Science Panel on Multivitamins in Chronic Disease Prevention (2004-6); IOM Committee on Children’s Food Marketing (2004-5); National Commission Clinical Preventive Service Priorities (1997-2000); HHS Working Group on Sentinel Objectives for Healthy People 2010 (1996-7); HHS Nutrition Policy Board (1978-1995); HEW Secretary’s Task Force on Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (1977-9); and HEW Secretary’s Task Force on Smoking and Health (1977-9).

Dr. McGinnis’ scientific interest and leadership focus is population health and the determinants of health. He has authored approximately 200 articles and edited 20 books. He was educated at Berkeley (BA), UCLA (MA, MD) and Harvard (MPP). His national recognitions include the public health Distinguished Service Medal (1989), Health Leader of the Year Award (1996), Public Health Hero Award (2013), and the Fries Award for Improving Health (2018). In 1978, he married Patricia G. McGinnis and they live in Washington DC. His full CV is available here.

Map

By Car from Ronald Reagan National Airport

1. Exit the airport to George Washington Memorial Parkway NORTH.
2. Exit to Memorial Bridge.
3. Bear LEFT after crossing Memorial Bridge into Washington, DC.
4. Take second LEFT onto Henry Bacon Drive, NW. You must turn LEFT at this point as your route will be blocked by Jersey walls.
5. Turn RIGHT at the traffic light onto Constitution Avenue, NW.
6. Turn LEFT onto Sixth Street, NW.
7. Cross E Steet, NW. and look to your right for the parking entrance immediately before the fire station.

By Car from Dulles International Airport

1. Exit the airport to Airport Access Road EAST.
2. Follow until Access Road merges with Interstate 66 EAST.
3. Follow I-66 EAST across the Roosevelt Bridge into Washington, DC. After the bridge, I-66 becomes Route 50 EAST/Constitution Avenue, NW.
4. Turn LEFT onto Sixth St, NW.
5. Cross E Street, NW. and look to your right for the parking entrance immediately before the fire station.

By Car from Baltimore/Washington International Airport

1. Exit the airport to Interstate 195 WEST.
2. Exit I-195 to MD-295 SOUTH (Baltimore-Washington Parkway) towards Washington, DC.
3. Follow MD-295 SOUTH to exit for Route 50 WEST to downtown Washington, DC.
4. Follow Route 50 WEST as it turns into New York Avenue, NE.
5. Turn LEFT onto Sixth Street, NW.
6. Cross F Street, NW, and look to your left for the parking entrance immediately after the fire station.

By Metro’s Red Line

1. Take Metro’s Red Line to the Judiciary Square station.
2. Exit the station by following signs to the Building Museum (F Street) exit, between Fourth and Fifth Streets, NW.
3. Turn LEFT and walk WEST on F Street, NW.
4. Cross Fith Street, NW, and turn LEFT.
5. Walk past the fire station parking lot. The next building on your right will be 500 Fifth Street, NW.

By Metro’s Green or Yellow Line

1. Take Metro’s Green or Yellow Line to the Gallery Place-Chinatown station.
2. Exit the station by following signs to Seventh and F Streets/Arena.
3. Turn LEFT and walk EAST on F Street NW, two blocks past the MCI Center.
4. Turn RIGHT on to Fifth Street, NW.
5. Walk past the fire station parking lot. The next building on your right will be 500 Fifth St, NW.

 Map

By Car from Ronald Reagan National Airport

1. Exit the airport to George Washington Memorial Parkway NORTH. Exit to Memorial Bridge.
2. Bear LEFT after crossing Memorial Bridge into Washington, DC.
3. Take second LEFT onto Henry Bacon Drive NW You must turn LEFT at this point as your route will be blocked by Jersey walls.
4. Turn RIGHT at the traffic light onto Constitution Avenue, NW.
5. Turn LEFT at second light onto 21st Street, NW.
6. Parking lot entrance is on left before traffic light at intersection with C Street NW.

By Car from Dulles International Airport

1. Exit the airport to Airport Access Road EAST.
2. Follow until Access Road merges with Interstate 66 EAST.
3. Follow I-66 EAST across the Roosevelt Bridge into Washington, DC. After the bridge, I-66 becomes Route 50 EAST/Constitution Avenue, NW.
4. Turn LEFT at fourth light onto 21st Street, NW.
5. Parking lot entrance is on left before traffic light at intersection with C Street, NW.

By Car from Baltimore/Washington International Airport

1. Exit the airport to Interstate 195 WEST.
2. Exit I-195 to MD-295 SOUTH (Baltimore-Washington Parkway) towards Washington, DC.
3. Follow MD-295 SOUTH to exit for Route 50 WEST to downtown Washington, DC.
4. Follow Route 50 WEST as it turns into New York Avenue, NE.
5. Turn LEFT onto Ninth Street, NW.
6. Turn RIGHT onto Constitution Avenue, NW.
7. Turn RIGHT onto 21st Street, NW.
8. Parking lot entrance is on left before traffic light at intersection with C Street, NW.

By Metro’s Orange or Blue Line

1. Take Metro’s Orange or Blue Line to the Foggy Bottom-GWU station.
2. Turn RIGHT on to 23rd Street, NW, when you exit the station.
3. Walk SOUTH on 23rd Street, NW, for approximately 7 blocks.
4. Turn LEFT on to C Street, NW, (after the State Department).
5. Cross 22nd Street, NW, and enter the NAS building through its rear entrance at 2100 C Street, NW.

 Map

From the Los Angeles Area

1. Follow Interstate 405 South to Highway 73 South/SJH Toll Road.
2. Take Highway 73 approximately 2 miles and EXIT at University Drive.
3. Turn LEFT on University Drive and continue to California Avenue.
4. Turn RIGHT on California Avenue, then RIGHT at the first street, Academy. The center’s address is 100 Academy Drive.

From the San Diego Area

1. Follow Interstate 5 North to Interstate 405 North.
2. Take the Jeffrey/University Drive off-ramp and turn LEFT.
3. Continue on University Drive approximately 3 miles to California Avenue.
4. Turn LEFT on California Avenue, then RIGHT at the first street, Academy. The center’s address is 100 Academy Drive.

From the Riverside Area

1. Take the 91 Freeway West to the 55 Freeway South to Interstate 405 South.
2. EXIT at Jamboree Road West, toward the coast.
3. Continue on Jamboree Road to Campus Drive.
4. Turn LEFT at Campus Drive.
5. Turn RIGHT on University Drive.
6. At the second signal, California Avenue, turn LEFT.
7. Turn RIGHT at the first street, Academy. The center’s address is 100 Academy Drive.