The National Academy of Medicine has elected 100 new members including a dozen Harvard faculty affiliates—an unusually large cohort, and more evidence of the University’s prowess in medicine, life sciences, and public health—plus a couple of other noteworthy affiliates. From the announcement:
Monica M. Bertagnolli, M.D., Wilson M.D. professor of surgery, Harvard Medical School (HMS); 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.
David Clapham, M.D., Ph.D., vice president and chief scientific officer, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI); group leader, HHMI Janelia Research Campus; and Castañeda professor of cardiovascular research, emeritus, and professor of neurobiology, HMS. For making paradigm-shifting discoveries in the field of ion channel signaling.
Joseph Gone, Ph.D., professor of global health and social medicine, HMS; professor of anthropology, 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.
William C. Hahn, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice president and chief operating officer, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Rosenberg professor of medicine, HMS. For fundamental contributions in the understanding of cancer initiation, maintenance, and progression.
Zhigang He, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurology and ophthalmology, HMS; 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.
Kenneth David Mandl, M.D., M.P.H., Lindberg professor of pediatrics and biomedical informatics, HMS; and director, computational health informatics program, Boston Children’s Hospital. For creating technological solutions to clinical and public health problems.
Vamsi K. Mootha, M.D., professor of systems biology, HMS; investigator, MGH; investigator, HHMI; and member, Broad Institute. For transforming the field of mitochondrial biology by creatively combining modern genomics with classical bioenergetics.
Jane Wimpfheimer Newburger, M.D., M.P.H., Commonwealth professor of pediatrics, HMS; and associate cardiologist-in-chief, academic affairs, Boston Children’s Hospital. For her world-renowned work in pediatric-acquired and congenital heart diseases.
Eric J. Rubin, M.D., Ph.D., editor-in-chief, New England Journal of Medicine, and adjunct professor of immunology and infectious diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (SPH). For pioneering bacterial genetic tools being used to create the next generation of anti-tuberculosis drug.
Renee N. Salas, M.D., M.P.H., MS, affiliated faculty, Harvard Global Health Institute; Yerby Fellow, SPH; and attending physician, department of emergency medicine, HMS and MGH. 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, M.D., M.P.H., chief patient experience and equity officer, Mass General Brigham; and professor of medicine and health care policy, HMS. For expertise in Native American health, quality of care, and health care equity.
Reisa Sperling, M.D., director, Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment; associate neurologist, department of neurology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital/MGH; and professor of neurology, HMS. For pioneering clinical research that revolutionized the concept of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease.
Also elected:
Vivek Hallegere Murthy, ’98, M.D., MBA, 19th and 21st 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.
Rochelle Paula Walensky, M.D., M.P.H., formerly of MGH, now 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.
