Institute of Medicine Elects New Members

Chemistry Nobel Laureate Peter C. Agre (2003), along with four members of the American Chemical Society, is among 64 new members elected this week to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies in Washington, D.C.

Election to IOM recognizes people who have made “major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health,” IOM President Harvey V. Fineberg states. “It is considered one of the highest honors in these fields.”

Agre is vice chancellor of science and technology and a professor of cell biology at Duke University. The newly elected ACS members to IOM are Frank McCormick, David A. Wood Endowed Chair in Tumor Biology & Cancer Research, Microbiology & Immunology, University of California, San Francisco; Steven L. McKnight, chair, biochemistry department, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas; Paul Schimmel, Hahn Professor, Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, Scripps Research Institute; and Joan A. Steitz, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and Sterling Professor, department of molecular biophysics and biochemistry, Yale University.

The election brings total active membership of the body to 1,461 individuals. Five people were elected to foreign associate membership in IOM. Members make a commitment to involve themselves in the work of the institute, which conducts studies and other activities addressing a wide range of issues in medical science, health services, public health, and health policy.