9 HMS Faculty Elected to National Academy of Medicine

Recognized for major contributions to medicine, health care, and public health

Awards and Recognitions

2 min read

Photo of Gordon Hall on the HMS campus, framed by trees
Image: Gretchen Ertl

Nine HMS faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

Election to the NAM recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health and have demonstrated outstanding commitment to service. Membership in the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.

Get more HMS news here

The new members, who were chosen by current members, were announced during the NAM annual meeting on October 21.

The newly elected members from HMS are:

  • Paola Arlotta, the HMS Golub Family Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and head of the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University, for pioneering work on the development and application of powerful stem cell-based models of the human brain and brain organoids and for her contributions to understanding processes of human brain formation and human neurological disease.
  • Jonathan Bean, HMS professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, for transformative work in applying multidisciplinary, precision medicine principles to rehabilitation that has reconceptualized health care systems and practice for geriatric and veteran populations.
  • Bob Carter, the HMS William and Elizabeth Sweet Professor of Neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, for contributions to neurosurgery and neuro-oncology, including the creation of CAR T cells against the brain cancer glioblastoma multiforme, discovery of extracellular vesicles in that cancer, and use of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived dopaminergic neurons for Parkinson’s disease.
Promotion for Harvard Medicine magazine, delivered to your inbox. Subscribe Today
  • Patricia Dykes, HMS professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, for being an internationally recognized nurse scientist and biomedical informatician who has developed, integrated into practice, and broadly disseminated innovative, cost-effective health information technology tools that engage patients and families in fall prevention.
  • Marcia Haigis, professor of cell biology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, for leadership and pioneering studies in cellular metabolism, elucidating how metabolites contribute to normal physiology, aging, cancer, and anti-tumor immune control.
  • Nicole Maestas, the John D. MacArthur Professor of Health Care Policy in the Field of Economics and incoming head of the Department of Health Care Policy at HMS, for contributions to our understanding of the economics of employment, work capacity, and income support and the economics of health insurance for the elderly and people with disabilities.
  • David Pellman, the Margaret M. Dyson Professor of Pediatric Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and professor of cell biology at HMS, for identifying the basis for mutational processes that generate a large fraction of the structural and numerical chromosome abnormalities in cancer and certain congenital diseases.
  • Olivier Pourquié, the Frank Burr Mallory Professor of Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor of genetics at HMS, for his discovery of the segmentation clock and landmark work on vertebral development that provides a framework to understand pathologies of the spine such as scoliosis and spina bifida.
  • Hao Wu, the Asa and Patricia Springer Professor of Structural Biology at Boston Children’s Hospital and professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at HMS, for discovering supramolecular complexes (signalosomes) as central organizing structures that mediate signal transduction in innate immunity.

Established in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine, the NAM addresses critical issues in health, science, medicine, and related policy. NAM works alongside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation.

With their election, NAM members make a commitment to volunteer their service in National Academy activities.

Adapted from NAM press materials.