Six Hopkins faculty members elected to National Academy of Medicine

Six Johns Hopkins University faculty members are among 85 new members elected to the National Academy of Medicine, an independent organization of eminent professionals from diverse fields including health, medicine, and the natural, social, and behavioral sciences.

The NAM serves alongside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering as adviser for the nation and the international community. Through its domestic and global initiatives, the NAM works to address critical issues in health, medicine, and related policy.

Membership in the academy is considered one of the highest honors in health and medicine.

New members are elected by current members through a selective process that recognizes people who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health.

The new members from Johns Hopkins are:

James Berger, a professor of biophysics and biophysical chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, serves as the director of the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences and co-director of the Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center's Cancer Chemical and Structural Biology Program. Berger has long studied the fundamental mechanisms of enzymes that control cell proliferation and small molecule inhibitors that target such systems.

Jennifer Elisseeff, a professor of ophthalmology and biomedical engineering, also serves as the director of the Translational Tissue Engineering Center. Her research focuses on tissue regeneration.

Ellen MacKenzie, dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, is a trauma care expert. Her research focuses on the impact of health services and policies on the short- and long-term consequences of traumatic injury.

Martin Makary, a surgical oncologist and professor of surgery, serves as the chief of the Johns Hopkins Auto Islet Transplant Center and professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Makary's research focuses on the creation and evaluation of health care innovations. He is the creator of the World Health Organization's Surgical Safety Checklist.

Xiaobin Wang is a professor in the Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of the Center on the Early Life Origins of Disease. Wang's work unites biomarkers, clinical medicine, epidemiology, and disease prevention.

King-Wai Yau is a professor of neuroscience and ophthalmology at the School of Medicine. Yau's research focuses on the flow of molecular signals that are important to sight and smell. His discoveries have helped advance the understanding of many hereditary blinding diseases that affect these rod and cone cells.