Two from Johns Hopkins elected to Institute of Medicine

Two faculty members from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, professors Gregg Semenza and Lawrence Appel, were among 70 individuals elected to the Institute of Medicine today.

Image caption: Gregg Smenza and Lawrence Appel

The IOM recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. Election to the IOM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.

Appel, who directs the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research at Johns Hopkins, has led a series of landmark studies that have set national standards for preventing heart disease, stroke and kidney disease, with both drug therapies and lifestyle modification. These highly influential and innovative studies have also provided persuasive evidence for current national efforts designed to reduce racial disparities in cardiovascular health. Semenza, the C. Michael Armstrong Professor of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine, is best known for his ground-breaking discovery in the laboratory of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 or HIF-1, which helps cells cope with low oxygen levels. The discovery has far-reaching implications in understanding low oxygen health conditions like coronary artery disease and tumor growth.

"The Institute of Medicine is greatly enriched by the addition of our newly elected colleagues, each of whom has significantly advanced health and medicine," said IOM President Harvey V. Fineberg said in a news release. "Through their research, teaching, clinical work, and other contributions, these distinguished individuals have inspired and served as role models to others. We look forward to drawing on their knowledge and skills to improve health through the work of the IOM."

Appel and Semenza are among 60 current members of the Johns Hopkins faculty to be elected to IOM. The newly elected members raise IOM's total active membership to 1,732.