Alumni of the medical school and its training programs are among 85 new members of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) who were elected in October.
New members are elected by current members through a process that recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health. At least one-quarter of the membership is selected from fields outside the health professions — for example, from such fields as law, engineering, social sciences, and the humanities.
Established originally as the Institute of Medicine in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, the NAM addresses critical issues in health, science, medicine, and related policy. See https://nam.edu/national-academy-of-medicine-elects-85-new-members/ for the NAM news release and complete list.
Also elected this year was YSM faculty member David A. Hafler, M.D., the William S. and Lois Stiles Edgerly Professor of Neurology and Professor of Immunobiology, and chair, department of neurology. Hafler, who joins more than 40 current Yale faculty members in the NAM, was recognized “for seminal discoveries defining the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS), including identification of autoreactive T cells and mechanisms that underlie their dysregulation, and the discovery of susceptibility genes that lead to MS.”
The new members from YSM’s alumni and house staff alumni ranks include:
M.D. Program Alumni
Ophir David Klein, M.D. ’00, Ph.D. ’99, HS ’03, Hillblom Distinguished Professor in Craniofacial Anomalies, Epstein Professor of Human Genetics, and professor of orofacial sciences and pediatrics, Schools of Dentistry and Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.
For his international reputation in developmental and stem cell biology, focusing on craniofacial, tooth, and bone development and regeneration, destined to lead to the biologically inspired restoration of teeth and other organs.
Albert L. Siu, M.D. ’80, M.S.P.H., professor, department of geriatrics and palliative medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City.
For seminal contributions to evidence-based practice in health-services research and in pioneering programs that intersect geriatrics and palliative care.
Ronald John Weigel, M.D. ’86, Ph.D. ’86, departmental executive officer and chair, department of surgery, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City.
For identifying key drivers of hormone response in breast cancer and pioneering the technique of expression analysis from archival breast cancer specimens, heralding the era of molecular diagnostics.
House Staff Alumni
Giselle Corbie-Smith, M.D., M.Sc., HS ’95, Kenan Distinguished Professor, departments of social medicine and medicine, UNC Center for Health Equity Research, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
For her scholarly work on the practical and ethical issues of engaging communities in research to achieve health and equity.
Kunle Odunsi, M.D., Ph.D., HS ’99, deputy director, M. Steven Piver Professor of Gynecologic Oncology, chair, department of gynecologic oncology, and executive director, Center for Immunotherapy, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, N.Y.
For identifying key mechanisms of immune suppression within the ovarian tumor microenvironment, pioneering studies to re-engineer mature T cells and hematopoietic stem cells for adoptive T cell therapy, and implementing multi-institutional immunotherapy trials using novel strategies that he developed, to impact outcome and quality of life of ovarian cancer patients.