Nicholas Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science and professor of medicine (general medicine) and of biomedical engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Christakis, a sociologist and physician who has been a member of the Yale faculty since 2013, is a leading expert in the study of social networks and biosocial science. His research focuses mainly on the social, mathematical, and biological rules governing how social networks form and the biological implications of how they operate to influence thoughts, behaviors, and feelings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he conducted pioneering research on the connection between social networks and contagion.
Christakis is director of the Human Nature Lab at Yale and the author of four books and more than 200 articles. He has been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Also elected from Yale is James Mayer, PhD, Charlotte Fitch Roberts Professor of Chemistry, who is a major contributor to the study of chemical reactivity. Using an array of techniques and approaches, Mayer's research aims to develop a fundamental understanding of reactions that involve the transfer of protons and electrons in systems including transition metal complexes, organic molecules, electrocatalysts, and colloidal nanocrystals
In all, the academy has elected 120 new members this year, bringing its total of active members to 2,617. The academy was established by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 and charged with providing independent, objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology. Election to the academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be bestowed on a U.S. scientist or engineer.